Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have discovered a type of gene regulation never before observed in mammals--a "ribozyme" that controls the activity of an important family of genes in several different species.

Tiny strands of genetic material called RNA – a chemical cousin of DNA – are emerging as major players in gene regulation, the process inside cells that drives all biology and that scientists seek to control in order to fight disease.

Genomatix Software GmbH, a Systems Biology company focussed on high quality annotation and the understanding of gene regulation, has begun showcasing its abilities in the analysis of data generated by Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) technology.

Metabolism is a central feature of life – a myriad of biochemical processes that, together, enable organisms to nourish and sustain themselves. Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are in the forefront of efforts to demonstrate how the regulation of genes governs fundamental life processes, including metabolism.

Metabolism is a central feature of life – a myriad of biochemical processes that, together, enable organisms to nourish and sustain themselves. Scientists at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) are in the forefront of efforts to demonstrate how the regulation of genes governs fundamental life processes, including metabolism.

An international team has opened a virtual bazaar, called PAZAR, which allows biologists to share information about gene regulation through individually managed 'boutiques' (data collections).

A new study published in Nature Genetics on Sunday 16 September 2007 show that common, complex diseases are more likely to be due to genetic variation in regions that control activity of genes, rather than in the regions that specify the protein code.

Gene networks are some of the most basic features of a living organism. An external or internal stimulus activates some genes, which in turn control others genes whose activity turns on or off various biological processes (such as the cell cycle, energy production, DNA repair, cellular suicide etc).

The Conaway Lab — led by Joan Conaway, Ph.D., and Ron Conaway, Ph.D., Investigators — has published findings that shed light on the role of the much-studied transcription factor YY1 in gene expression. Yong Cai, Ph.D., Research Specialist I, and Jingji Jin, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate, are the paper’s coequal first authors.

A major surprise emerging from genome sequencing projects is that humans have a comparable number of protein-coding genes as significantly less complex organisms such as the minute nematode worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Clearly something other than gene count is behind the genetic differences between simpler and more complex life forms.

The striking differences between humans and chimps aren’t so much in the genes we have, which are 99 percent the same, but in the way those genes are used, according to new research from a Duke University team.

It is not just what’s in your genes, it’s how you turn them on that accounts for the difference between species — at least in yeast — according to a report by Yale researchers in this week’s issue of Science.