BiotechMashup

(University of North Carolina School of Medicine) The structure of an entire HIV genome has been decoded for the first time by researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The results have widespread implications for understanding the strategies that viruses, like the one that causes AIDS, use to infect humans. The study, the cover story in the Aug. 6, 2009, issue of the journal Nature, also opens the door for further research which could accelerate the development of antiviral drugs.

Errors in the copying and reading of genes can have very serious consequences. Fortunately human genetic material is available in duplicate as everyone inherits a complete genome from both their mother and father. However, the two genomes are different: researchers refer to the different variants of the gene sequence on the individual chromosomes as "haplotypes" and the complete analysis of the genome requires detailed knowledge of both haplotypes. Scientists have now comprehensively decoded both sets of chromosomes from a human genome separately for the first time.

An international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious organism that triggered the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and now threatens this season's tomato and potato crops across much of the US. The study reveals an unusually large genome size -- more than twice that of closely related species -- and an extraordinary genome structure, which together appear to enable the rapid evolution of genes, particularly those involved in plant infection.

(Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard) An international research team has decoded the genome of the notorious organism that triggered the Irish potato famine in the mid-19th century and now threatens this season's tomato and potato crops across much of the US. The study reveals an unusually large genome size -- more than twice that of closely related species -- and an extraordinary genome structure, which together appear to enable the rapid evolution of genes, particularly those involved in plant infection.

Scientists have completed the genome sequence of a Denisovan, a representative of an Asian group of extinct humans related to Neanderthals.

(Max-Planck-Gesellschaft) The Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, has completed the genome sequence of a Denisovan, a representative of an Asian group of extinct humans related to Neanderthals.

In recent years, scientists have decoded the DNA of humans and a menagerie of creatures but none with genes as complex as a stalk of corn, the latest genome to be unraveled. A team of scientists has published the completed corn genome -- an accomplishment that will speed efforts to develop better crop varieties to meet the world's growing demands for food, livestock feed and fuel.

With the world's first complete sequencing of a brown algal genome, an international research team has made a big leap towards understanding the evolution of two key prerequisites for higher life on Earth -- multicellularity and photosynthesis. About 100 scientists and technicians, during a five-year research project, successfully decoded all hereditary information on the brown seaweed Ectocarpus siliculosus.

Researchers have decoded the genome of the Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) K1 cell line. Their work yields a better understanding of the genetics of CHO cells and promises to accelerate the discovery and development of new recombinant protein therapies.