Apr. 2, 2013 ? Four solar homes built by students at Missouri University of Science and Technology will soon become home to an experimental microgrid to manage and store renewable energy. The houses, all past entries into the Solar Decathlon design competition, make up the university's Solar Village.
In its initial phase, the project involves Missouri S&T students and researchers, along with representatives from utility companies, the Army Corps of Engineers and several Missouri businesses. The goal is to demonstrate the feasibility of small-scale microgrids for future use.
"Distributed power generation is one of the key elements of a microgrid. In our case, we're using solar panels," says Dr. Mehdi Ferdowsi, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Missouri S&T. "It's called a microgrid because it's less dependent on the utility power grid. The idea is that if there is a blackout, it can operate in what we call 'islanded mode,' and convert to using stored solar energy.
"Utility companies are interested to see if this could be a viable business model for the future," he says. "For example, they could rent out renewable energy generators to subdivisions, creating a new paradigm for selling electricity."
Ferdowsi says that Missouri S&T's Solar Village is an ideal place to test microgrid technology. "The four houses were built in a 10-year span of time and each was designed individually, but converting them to the technology is not complicated," he says.
Students living in the solar houses will monitor the results. "We hope to demonstrate that the technology is expandable to many, based on these four houses," he says. "The students will also demonstrate the human aspect of the project -- how people interact with a new system of energy management."
Components necessary for the project include batteries for energy storage, a power electronic converter, software and hardware.
Two lithium battery racks were donated by A123 Systems Inc. (now Wanxiang Group) in December. Ferdowsi estimates their combined worth at $75,000 to $100,000. "These batteries are very efficient, but they are super heavy with 8-foot-tall racks," he says. "We hope to have them installed in a shed in the Solar Village by the end of summer, along with the converter." The hardware and software would be located in the houses.
Photovoltaic (PV) arrays on the solar homes are designed to generate about 25 kilowatts of power. The donated batteries will provide 60 kilowatt hours of energy storage for the microgrid.
Researchers are now deciding which converter and intelligence system to purchase. "Security is also a factor -- we want to be sure the system is hacker-proof," says Ferdowsi.
Several Missouri S&T alumni serve on the advisory council that was created to guide the integration of microgrid components into the Solar Village, and to ensure the microgrid is designed for future expansions.
One, alumnus Brent McKinney, manager of electrical transmission with City Utilities of Springfield (Mo.), helped facilitate a $75,000 grant for the project through the American Public Power Association. The grant will help fund battery array installation and graduate student research in community energy storage.
Dr. Fatih Dogan, professor of materials science and engineering at S&T, has been working with St. Louis-based utility company Ameren, which plans to provide and install a residential fuel cell and heat recovery demonstration unit in the village. The fuel cell will serve as an additional microgrid component.
Future expansion plans include incorporating a wind turbine, generators, electric vehicles and an electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
"There is so much potential in this project, and so many groups that can benefit from it," says Angela Rolufs, director of the office of sustainable energy and environmental engagement at Missouri S&T, which manages the Solar Village. "We had this great idea and all the pieces for it -- we just needed some help making it happen."
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The most common genetic cause of both ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and FTD (frontotemporal dementia) was recently identified as an alteration in the gene C9orf72. But how the mutation causes neurodegenerative disease appeared mysterious.
Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine have demonstrated that this ALS/FTD mutation may be harmful because it creates an "RNA sponge," soaking up an important regulatory protein that binds RNA.
The results were published online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Early Edition.
"We think that the RNA itself is part of the disease mechanism," says co-author Thomas Wingo, MD, assistant professor of neurology at Emory University School of Medicine. "In both cell culture and fruit flies, we've been able to show that we can add back the protein depleted by the RNA and ameliorate the problem."
The finding provides insight into the mechanism of disease in ALS and FTD, both in cases where C9orf72 is altered and in other cases. It suggests some forms of ALS/FTD may have common elements with other neurodegenerative disorders caused by noncoding repeats, such as myotonic dystrophy, spinocerebellar ataxia and fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome.
The senior author is Peng Jin, PhD, professor of human genetics at Emory University School of Medicine. The first authors are a former graduate student, Zihui Xu, PhD, now at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, and research specialist Mickael Poidevin.
ALS is a fatal disease in which motor neurons in the brain and spinal cord degenerate. As the illness progresses, patients lose the ability to walk, talk and breathe. FTD is a form of dementia in which the patients primarily experience deterioration in behavior, personality or language.
Many neurologists and researchers consider these conditions as sharing clinical and pathological features. Mutations in several genes have been linked to both ALS and FTD, which suggests that they have a common mechanism. However, most cases are considered sporadic, meaning that they don't have a clear family history.
In 2011, a mutation was identified within C9orf72 as the most common genetic cause of ALS and FTD, accounting for 5 to 7 percent of cases of each disease. The mutation doesn't seem to affect the protein encoded by C9orf72. Instead, it expands a block of repetitive DNA, so that the sequence "GGGGCC" is repeated hundreds of times outside the parts of the gene that encode protein.
This looks similar to "noncoding repeat" expansions responsible for other neurodegenerative disorders such as myotonic dystrophy, spinocerebellar ataxia and fragile X-associated tremor/ataxia syndrome.
Some researchers have reported that the GGGGCC repeat produces RNA that is translated into an unusual protein that aggregates in cells. These protein aggregates are thought to be toxic to neurons. Emory researchers have an alternative explanation: the GGGGCC repeat RNA itself is toxic.
The Emory team tested the effects of producing the GGGGCC repeat RNA, which proved toxic to cultured mammalian neuronal cells and caused neurodegeneration in fruit flies. When the repeat RNA was produced in flies' motor neurons, the flies had reduced motor activity.
The repeat RNA appears to be harmful because, when overproduced, it sequesters a protein called Pur alpha, which sticks to the GGGGCC repeats. Scientists had previously found that Pur alpha is necessary for neuronal development and is involved in the transport of RNA within neurons. Making neuronal cells or flies produce more Pur alpha to compensate reverses the toxicity caused by the RNA, the Emory scientists found.
"For ALS and FTD, this suggests a disease-fighting strategy of targeting either the toxic RNA itself or its interaction with Pur alpha," Jin says. "It also hints that there is a common RNA-based mechanism contributing to several neurodegenerative diseases."
Sequestering Pur alpha appears to cause its redistribution within the neurons of patients affected by ALS/FTD. The Emory team was able to detect clumpy "inclusions" containing Pur alpha in samples of brain tissue from individuals with C9orf72 mutations ? and also in other individuals with FTD but without C9orf72 mutations.
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Emory Health Sciences: http://whsc.emory.edu/home/news/index.html
Thanks to Emory Health Sciences for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
FILE - This March 28, 2013 file photo shows the dental offices of Dr. Scott Harrington in Tulsa, Okla. Susan Rogers, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, said Monday, April, 1, 2013, her office wants prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against Harrington who is at the center of a public health scare involving at least 7,000 of his patients. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Michael Wyke) ONLINE OUT; TV OUT; TULSA OUT
FILE - This March 28, 2013 file photo shows the dental offices of Dr. Scott Harrington in Tulsa, Okla. Susan Rogers, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, said Monday, April, 1, 2013, her office wants prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against Harrington who is at the center of a public health scare involving at least 7,000 of his patients. (AP Photo/Tulsa World, Michael Wyke) ONLINE OUT; TV OUT; TULSA OUT
FILE - This 1977 license picture provided by the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry shows Tulsa oral surgeon Dr. Scott Harrington. Susan Rogers, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, said Monday, April, 1, 2013, her office wants prosecutors to pursue criminal charges against Harrington who is at the center of a public health scare involving at least 7,000 of his patients. (AP Photo/Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, File)
TULSA, Okla. (AP) ? Citing the scope of a public health scare involving thousands of patients of an Oklahoma oral surgeon, the head of the state's dentistry board said Monday she wants prosecutors to consider pursuing criminal charges.
Nearly 1,000 of Dr. W. Scott Harrington's 7,000 patients have now been tested in Tulsa for hepatitis B and C as well as HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. About 400 people showed up at a clinic north of downtown Saturday, the first day the free tests were offered, and nearly 560 people showed up Monday.
Susan Rogers, the executive director of the Oklahoma Board of Dentistry, told The Associated Press that she talked with Tulsa County District Attorney Tim Harris on Monday to discuss whether Harrington is criminally liable.
"We're looking for the witnesses and individuals who can testify for us that this is what happened to me in (Harrington's) office," Rogers told AP.
The 17-count complaint filed last week by Rogers' office called Harrington a "menace to the public health." The complaint also said officials found rusty instruments, potentially contaminated drug vials and improper use of a machine designed to sterilize tools at Harrington's two Tulsa-area offices.
Harrington and his staff could face at least two felony charges, Rogers said, including practicing dentistry without a license and aiding or abetting another person who is violating the state's dental act. Rogers said each possible charge could carry a prison term of up to four years and a $10,000 fine.
"I did speak to the DA this morning and I've talked to other officials, and I can't comment on those conversations, but there's more to come," Rogers said.
A spokeswoman at the district attorney's office could not comment Monday because prosecutors haven't received any paperwork from the dentistry board. A message left Monday morning with Harrington's attorney in Tulsa was not immediately returned.
Harrington had been a dentist for 36 years before voluntarily giving up his license March 20. He faces an April 19 hearing at which he could have his certification revoked.
Letters have been sent to 7,000 patients, urging them to be screened for hepatitis B and C and the virus that causes AIDS. Those letters should arrive no later than about two weeks, Kaitlin Snider, spokeswoman for the Tulsa Health Department, said Monday.
"We are here for the long haul," Snider said. "We know we can't screen 7,000 patients in a day or even in a week."
Those who have been tested should receive their results within two weeks, she added.
According to the Oklahoma Dentistry Board's complaint, Harrington's practice had varying cleaning procedures for its equipment, needles were re-inserted in drug vials after their initial use and drug vials were used on multiple patients.
Also, dental assistants performed some tasks reserved to a licensed dentist, such as administering IV sedation. A device used to sterilize equipment hadn't undergone required monthly tests in at least six years.
"When this started, I had no idea it was going to be this bad or this broad," Rogers said Monday. "This one scared me."
The public alert began after a patient of Harrington's initially tested positive for HIV in a screening at a third-party provider. But more testing indicated that the patient was not positive for HIV, only hepatitis C, the Tulsa Health Department said Friday.
Court records show that Harrington was sued for medical malpractice in 1994, and the case was settled in 1995. He also was sued for negligence in 1997, which was settled out of court in the same year.
Genetics Society of America's Genetics journal highlights for April 2013Public release date: 1-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phyllis Edelman pedelman@genetics-gsa.org 301-634-7302 Genetics Society of America
Bethesda, MDApril 1, 2013 Listed below are the selected highlights for the April 2013 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics. The April issue is available online at http://www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit Genetics, Vol. 193, April 2013, Copyright 2013.
Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles on a wide array of topics including methods, technology and resources; gene expression; genetics of complex traits; genome integrity and transmission; population and evolutionary genetics; cellular genetics; and, genome system biology.
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS
Methods, Technology and Resources
1. Marker density and read depth for genotyping populations using genotyping-by-sequencing, pp. 1073-1081
Timothy M. Beissinger, Candice N. Hirsch, Rajandeep S. Sekhon, Jillian M. Foerster, James M. Johnson, German Muttoni, Brieanne Vaillancourt, C. Robin Buell, Shawn M. Kaeppler, and Natalia de Leon
Genotyping-by-sequencing enables rapid and efficient genotyping of any species, but it must be appropriately implemented to provide the desired information. This article describes what constitutes sufficient marker information for a variety of genetic studies, and tells how best to obtain that information with genotyping-by-sequencing.
Gene Expression
2. Novel sexual-cycle-specific gene silencing in Aspergillus nidulans, pp. 1149-1162
Wioletta Czaja, Karen Y. Miller, and Bruce L. Miller
Homology-dependent gene silencing operates in many fungi, plants, and animals. This article reports a novel gene silencing system in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans that is sexual-cycle-specific. Duplication of the matA gene encoding a master regulator of sexual differentiation triggers Mat-induced silencing of mating type function and aborts gametogenesis. Mat-induced silencing offers a valuable insight into genome surveillance in eukaryotes.
Genetics of Complex Traits
3. The protein chaperone HSP90 can facilitate the divergence of gene duplicates, pp. 1269-1277
Jennifer Lachowiec, Tzitziki Lemus, James H. Thomas, Patrick J. M. Murphy, Jennifer L. Nemhauser, and Christine Queitsch
Because protein chaperones facilitate folding and stability of their client proteins, clients may be free to accumulate more mutations than nonclients experiencing similar evolutionary pressures. These investigators found that a plant HSP90 client protein shows relaxed selection and hallmarks of neo- and subfunctionalization compared to its nonclient paralog. In addition, they show that systematically identified yeast HSP90 clients also tend to evolve faster than their nonclient paralogs.
Genome Integrity and Transmission
4. Limited RNA editing in exons of mouse liver and adipose, pp. 1107-1115
Sandrine Lagarrigue, Farhad Hormozdiari, Lisa J. Martin, Frdric Lecerf, Yehudit Hasin, Christoph Rau, Raffi Hagopian, Yu Xiao, Jun Yan, Thomas A. Drake, Anatole Ghazalpour, Eleazar Eskin, and Aldons J. Lusis
How prevalent is RNA editing? Several recent studies of RNA editing of exons in humans and mice reached very different conclusions. This article should quiet the controversy. Employing stringent criteria, the authors identified only 63 examples of editing in liver and 188 in adipose tissue of mice. Their results suggest that exonic RNA editing in these tissues is limited to perhaps a few hundred events.
Population and Evolutionary Genetics
5. Inferring admixture histories of human populations using linkage disequilibrium, pp. 1233-1254
Po-Ru Loh, Mark Lipson, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani, Joseph K. Pickrell, David Reich, and Bonnie Berger
Admixture between previously separated populations shapes patterns of genetic diversity. These investigators present new methods for analyzing data from admixed populations and show how statistics based on linkage disequilibrium can be used to construct a robust test for admixture and to infer admixture-related parameters such as dates, mixture proportions, and phylogenetic relationships. These tools are offered in a fast and flexible software packageALDERand applied to human data, yielding new insights into the admixture history of Sardinians, Pygmies, and Japanese.
Population and Evolutionary Genetics
6. Correcting coalescent analyses for panel-based SNP ascertainment, pp. 1185-1196
James R. McGill, Elizabeth A. Walkup, and Mary K. Kuhner
SNP chips only detect previously identified variants. Analyzing them as if they are fully ascertained leads to biased estimates of population size and other parameters; culling low-frequency SNPs makes the bias worse. This article offers corrections allowing accurate estimation of population parameters from panel-based and frequency-culled SNPs, and recommends strategies for SNP-based data collection and analysis.
Cellular Genetics
7. Nonself recognition through intermolecular disulfide bond formation of ribonucleotide reductase in Neurospora, pp. 1175-1183
Robert P. Smith, Kenji Wellman, Leila Haidari, Hirohisa Masuda, and Myron L. Smith
In addition to its task of manufacturing DNA nucleotides, ribonucleotide reductase has a surprising function in Neurospora crassa: nonself recognition. These investigators discovered that the flexible tail of the enzyme irreversibly crosslinks two alternative forms of the enzyme via an unusual disulfide bond. Their observation that different versions of this tail inhibit the growth of cells that carry the other allelic form offers the possibility of developing specific chemotherapeutic drugs using this system as a prototype.
Genome and Systems Biology
8. The draft genome and transcriptome of Panagrellus redivivus are shaped by the harsh demands of a free-living lifestyle, pp. 1279-1295
Jagan Srinivasan, Adler R. Dillman, Marissa G. Macchietto, Liisa Heikkinen, Merja Lakso, Kelley M. Fracchia, Igor Antoshechkin, Ali Mortazavi, Garry Wong, and Paul W. Sternberg
This article presents analysis of the draft genome sequence of a free-living nematode. It reveals striking protein family expansions that likely result from selection in a harsh environment with pathogens. For example, expansion of a eukaryotic release factor protein family suggests an ongoing evolutionary arms race with viruses and transposons. The authors describe a resource that will enable experimental analysis of interesting developmental and behavioral features of this worm, such as its gonad development and use of ascaroside social signals.
###
ABOUT GENETICS: Since 1916, Genetics (http://www.genetics.org/) has covered high quality, original research on a range of topics bearing on inheritance, including population and evolutionary genetics, complex traits, developmental and behavioral genetics, cellular genetics, gene expression, genome integrity and transmission, and genome and systems biology. Genetics, a peer-reviewed, peer-edited journal of the Genetics Society of America is one of the world's most cited journals in genetics and heredity.
ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes Genetics, a leading journal in the field and an online, open-access journal, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. For more information about GSA, please visit http://www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Genetics Society of America's Genetics journal highlights for April 2013Public release date: 1-Apr-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Phyllis Edelman pedelman@genetics-gsa.org 301-634-7302 Genetics Society of America
Bethesda, MDApril 1, 2013 Listed below are the selected highlights for the April 2013 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics. The April issue is available online at http://www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit Genetics, Vol. 193, April 2013, Copyright 2013.
Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles on a wide array of topics including methods, technology and resources; gene expression; genetics of complex traits; genome integrity and transmission; population and evolutionary genetics; cellular genetics; and, genome system biology.
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS
Methods, Technology and Resources
1. Marker density and read depth for genotyping populations using genotyping-by-sequencing, pp. 1073-1081
Timothy M. Beissinger, Candice N. Hirsch, Rajandeep S. Sekhon, Jillian M. Foerster, James M. Johnson, German Muttoni, Brieanne Vaillancourt, C. Robin Buell, Shawn M. Kaeppler, and Natalia de Leon
Genotyping-by-sequencing enables rapid and efficient genotyping of any species, but it must be appropriately implemented to provide the desired information. This article describes what constitutes sufficient marker information for a variety of genetic studies, and tells how best to obtain that information with genotyping-by-sequencing.
Gene Expression
2. Novel sexual-cycle-specific gene silencing in Aspergillus nidulans, pp. 1149-1162
Wioletta Czaja, Karen Y. Miller, and Bruce L. Miller
Homology-dependent gene silencing operates in many fungi, plants, and animals. This article reports a novel gene silencing system in the fungus Aspergillus nidulans that is sexual-cycle-specific. Duplication of the matA gene encoding a master regulator of sexual differentiation triggers Mat-induced silencing of mating type function and aborts gametogenesis. Mat-induced silencing offers a valuable insight into genome surveillance in eukaryotes.
Genetics of Complex Traits
3. The protein chaperone HSP90 can facilitate the divergence of gene duplicates, pp. 1269-1277
Jennifer Lachowiec, Tzitziki Lemus, James H. Thomas, Patrick J. M. Murphy, Jennifer L. Nemhauser, and Christine Queitsch
Because protein chaperones facilitate folding and stability of their client proteins, clients may be free to accumulate more mutations than nonclients experiencing similar evolutionary pressures. These investigators found that a plant HSP90 client protein shows relaxed selection and hallmarks of neo- and subfunctionalization compared to its nonclient paralog. In addition, they show that systematically identified yeast HSP90 clients also tend to evolve faster than their nonclient paralogs.
Genome Integrity and Transmission
4. Limited RNA editing in exons of mouse liver and adipose, pp. 1107-1115
Sandrine Lagarrigue, Farhad Hormozdiari, Lisa J. Martin, Frdric Lecerf, Yehudit Hasin, Christoph Rau, Raffi Hagopian, Yu Xiao, Jun Yan, Thomas A. Drake, Anatole Ghazalpour, Eleazar Eskin, and Aldons J. Lusis
How prevalent is RNA editing? Several recent studies of RNA editing of exons in humans and mice reached very different conclusions. This article should quiet the controversy. Employing stringent criteria, the authors identified only 63 examples of editing in liver and 188 in adipose tissue of mice. Their results suggest that exonic RNA editing in these tissues is limited to perhaps a few hundred events.
Population and Evolutionary Genetics
5. Inferring admixture histories of human populations using linkage disequilibrium, pp. 1233-1254
Po-Ru Loh, Mark Lipson, Nick Patterson, Priya Moorjani, Joseph K. Pickrell, David Reich, and Bonnie Berger
Admixture between previously separated populations shapes patterns of genetic diversity. These investigators present new methods for analyzing data from admixed populations and show how statistics based on linkage disequilibrium can be used to construct a robust test for admixture and to infer admixture-related parameters such as dates, mixture proportions, and phylogenetic relationships. These tools are offered in a fast and flexible software packageALDERand applied to human data, yielding new insights into the admixture history of Sardinians, Pygmies, and Japanese.
Population and Evolutionary Genetics
6. Correcting coalescent analyses for panel-based SNP ascertainment, pp. 1185-1196
James R. McGill, Elizabeth A. Walkup, and Mary K. Kuhner
SNP chips only detect previously identified variants. Analyzing them as if they are fully ascertained leads to biased estimates of population size and other parameters; culling low-frequency SNPs makes the bias worse. This article offers corrections allowing accurate estimation of population parameters from panel-based and frequency-culled SNPs, and recommends strategies for SNP-based data collection and analysis.
Cellular Genetics
7. Nonself recognition through intermolecular disulfide bond formation of ribonucleotide reductase in Neurospora, pp. 1175-1183
Robert P. Smith, Kenji Wellman, Leila Haidari, Hirohisa Masuda, and Myron L. Smith
In addition to its task of manufacturing DNA nucleotides, ribonucleotide reductase has a surprising function in Neurospora crassa: nonself recognition. These investigators discovered that the flexible tail of the enzyme irreversibly crosslinks two alternative forms of the enzyme via an unusual disulfide bond. Their observation that different versions of this tail inhibit the growth of cells that carry the other allelic form offers the possibility of developing specific chemotherapeutic drugs using this system as a prototype.
Genome and Systems Biology
8. The draft genome and transcriptome of Panagrellus redivivus are shaped by the harsh demands of a free-living lifestyle, pp. 1279-1295
Jagan Srinivasan, Adler R. Dillman, Marissa G. Macchietto, Liisa Heikkinen, Merja Lakso, Kelley M. Fracchia, Igor Antoshechkin, Ali Mortazavi, Garry Wong, and Paul W. Sternberg
This article presents analysis of the draft genome sequence of a free-living nematode. It reveals striking protein family expansions that likely result from selection in a harsh environment with pathogens. For example, expansion of a eukaryotic release factor protein family suggests an ongoing evolutionary arms race with viruses and transposons. The authors describe a resource that will enable experimental analysis of interesting developmental and behavioral features of this worm, such as its gonad development and use of ascaroside social signals.
###
ABOUT GENETICS: Since 1916, Genetics (http://www.genetics.org/) has covered high quality, original research on a range of topics bearing on inheritance, including population and evolutionary genetics, complex traits, developmental and behavioral genetics, cellular genetics, gene expression, genome integrity and transmission, and genome and systems biology. Genetics, a peer-reviewed, peer-edited journal of the Genetics Society of America is one of the world's most cited journals in genetics and heredity.
ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes Genetics, a leading journal in the field and an online, open-access journal, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. For more information about GSA, please visit http://www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Most cancer treatments are blunt. In an attempt to eradicate tumors, oncologists often turn to radiation or chemotherapy, which can damage healthy tissue along with the cancerous growths. New research from C. David Allis' laboratory at Rockefeller University may bring scientists closer to designing cancer therapeutics that can target tumors with pinpoint accuracy.
Their findings, published last week in Science Express, follow a recent series of discoveries by several international genome sequencing consortiums that directly links a mutated histone protein to a rare brain stem cancer in children called DIPG. Collectively, these studies represented the first time scientists had linked a histone mutation to a disease, and piqued the interest of Peter Lewis, a research associate in Allis' Laboratory of Chromatin Biology and Epigenetics, who spearheaded these new studies.
Together with DNA, histones comprise the gene packaging material called chromatin. The mutation occurs on histone H3, and involves the remarkably specific substitution of one amino acid, lysine, for another, methionine, at a key position on the histone's tail, "silencing" the associated gene. Normally, gene silencing arises when an enzyme called a methyltransferase, containing a structural region called the SET domain, attaches a methyl chemical group to the lysine at position 27 in the H3 tail. This highly specific chemical reaction, called methylation, is disrupted by the replacement of the lysine with methionine, which could result in gene mis-regulation.
Lewis and his colleagues looked at human DIPG tumors that contained the lysine-to-methionine substitution and determined that mutated histone H3 comprised anywhere from 3.6 percent to 17.6 percent of total H3 in DIPG samples. They also found a global reduction in the levels of methylation of normal H3 histones when small amounts of the mutant H3 were added to normal human cells.
"I have often said, 'Every amino acid in histones matters,'" says Allis, who is the Joy and Jack Fishman Professor. "These studies underscore just how true that may be."
The researchers went on to demonstrate that the reduction in methylation of normal H3 histones results from interference with activity of a methyltransferase called PRC2 by the mutant histone. Methylation of normal H3 by PRC2 leads to repression of genes involved in cellular growth pathways. Without methylation, genes involved in these pathways likely become activated, promoting the growth of tumors in DIPG. Allis and Lewis received funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Starr Cancer Consortium. Key collaborators in this work included Oren Becher at Duke University Medical Center and Tom Muir at Princeton University and their colleagues.
"Our finding provides us with a useful tool for probing biological processes," says Lewis. "This also tells us how to inhibit enzymes, which could lead to the development of pharmaceuticals that mimic the action of these mutants."
"We now have a model for the promotion of brain stem cancers through aberrant epigenetic silencing through the inhibition of PRC2 by a mutant histone," says Allis. "We have uncovered a potentially useful mechanism to exclusively inhibit individual SET-domain methyltransferases, and conceivably other chromatin-modifying enzymes, implicated in a variety of malignancies."
Thanks to Rockefeller University for this article.
This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.
(Reuters) - New Jersey has provided more corporate tax breaks in the past three years than in the entire previous decade, yet the state's economy continues to lag, according to a report released on Monday.
Since the start of 2010, when Republican Governor Chris Christie took office, the state has awarded $2.1 billion in subsidies, compared to $1.25 billion for the previous 10 years, New Jersey Policy Perspective, the liberal think-tank, said in its report.
Even so, New Jersey's economy remains sluggish. Though its unemployment rate has fallen slightly, it is the sixth highest in the United States at 9.3 percent in February, well above the national jobless rate of 7.7 percent.
New Jersey had the second-highest foreclosure rate in January at 7.2 percent, behind only Florida, according to CoreLogic.
"So far, efforts to spur economic growth through aggressively awarding subsidies have not borne fruit," the think-tank said in its report.
A spokesman for Christie, Michael Drewniak, said the group was "not credible."
"This 'study' simply fails to consider the disadvantage we'd be in without effective job retention and business incentive programs," Drewniak said in a statement, noting that both Democrats and Republicans have supported such measures.
Ben Sparks, spokesman for the state Republican Party, said in a statement that New Jersey Policy Perspective was trying to take the state back to "the failed policies " of ex-Democratic Governor Jon Corzine.
Corporate give-aways aren't new. But they've taken on urgency as many U.S. states struggle to recover from the recession, which stripped jobs and revenues.
Tax breaks and subsidies have been popular with cities and states trying to lure businesses in the hopes of creating and retaining jobs.
New Jersey has at least five different corporate tax and incentive programs. In the last three years, the largest award overall was a $261.4 million grant to Revel Casino, which filed for bankruptcy in March.
The lavish new casino that opened in April 2012 will slash its $1.52 billion of debt to about $272 million under a prepackaged bankruptcy protection plan.
Overall, New Jersey officials have awarded tax credits and grants to 171 projects since February 2010.
Bayer Healthcare, Citibank, Pfizer, UBS Financial Services, Prudential Financial, Panasonic and Lockheed Martin are among companies receiving some of the largest taxpayer-funded incentives in the past three years, according to the report.
The report said that the state should focus more on economic development funding for education, infrastructure and job-training programs.
(Reporting by Hilary Russ; editing by Tiziana Barghini and Leslie Adler)
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Public release date: 1-Apr-2013
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