CENTER FOR JEWISH GENETICS
The Center for Jewish Genetics, located in downtown Chicago, not only brings awareness about genetics disorders and hereditary cancers particularly common in...

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Genetics-based research could help identify individual plants that possess superior traits to allow them to survive droughts and temperature shifts

Genetics-based research could help identify individual plants that possess superior traits to allow them to survive droughts and temperature shifts. Flickr/WIS Photography

Editor's note: The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research.

As the effects of climate change rapidly alter communities, economies and natural systems, the need to advance new solutions to what may be the most pressing biological challenge of our time has never been more urgent. One important part of the puzzle involves unlocking the natural genetic diversity of plants to identify those species and populations best able to cope with changing conditions.

Just as researchers have used genetics to improve food production, it can also provide solutions that maintain biodiversity and protect the services provided by native ecosystems. Genetics holds the potential to benefit native systems that range from prairies to pine forests and coral reefs.

Plants are well known to possess extensive genetic variation in drought and temperature tolerance, water-use efficiency, and other traits that can prove critical for surviving climate changes and avoiding extinction. Changing climatic conditions not only affect the plants themselves, but also other organisms that influence plant communities. For example, changing conditions may increase pest and pathogen outbreaks or allow an invasive species to move into an area that was previously inhospitable. Importantly, plants also exhibit genetic variation in their responses to pests and invasive species that can be used to mitigate their negative effects.

The use of genetics will become increasingly important in regions suffering from climate change. For example, in western US, drought and higher temperatures have doubled the rate of tree mortality since 1995, with mortality rates accelerating over time. Pinyon pine, an iconic and dominant species in the West, has suffered nearly 100% mortality at sites in Colorado and Arizona, where climate change has made trees more susceptible to bark beetle outbreaks that in turn result in increased wildfires.

Fortunately, plant genomes all of an organisms genetic information are a vast storehouse of genetic variability that can be used to help prevent the loss of species suffering from climate change. New technology and research platforms are making it possible for researchers to identify those individuals and populations that will survive in the climates of the future and in the face of the myriad cascading effects of climate change.

Genetics-based environmental research is already helping to restore damaged and degraded landscapes. For more than 30 years, a consortium of researchers has examined how genetic variation in the cottonwood tree can affect entire communities of organisms from microbes to mammals. This research has been involved with a 50-year, $626 million effort on the lower Colorado River that shows major genetics-based differences in the success of different populations that the Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies are using to restore riparian habitat. From such combined restoration-research experiments, scientists can learn which genetic lines are most likely to survive future climates.

Understanding a plants response to climate conditions requires the integration of diverse sciences to examine how changing conditions influence the plant through its life history and that of its offspring. Plant species become adapted to local conditions over thousands of years, meaning that what is locally adapted today could do poorly tomorrow as the climate changes. Thus, genetics-based research can help identify those individuals that possess superior traits that will allow them to survive in a future climate. This type of research involves interdisciplinary teams of climate-change scientists, biologists, geneticists, modellers and engineers who are using and developing new technologies and research platforms to unlock the vast stores of information within plant genomes.

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Genetics May Hold the Key to Climate Change Solutions for Plants

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Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce today announced a $15 million investment over five years into advances in genetics research that will improve the profitability of New Zealands sheep and beef sector.

A new partnership, Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics, will also bring together New Zealands existing sheep and beef genetics research by consolidating Sheep Improvement Ltd, the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Central Progeny Test, and Ovita. Total funding for the new project from government and industry sources will be up to $8.8 million per year.

"Science and innovation are major drivers of economic growth and international competitiveness. The Government is committed to ensuring we invest in purpose-driven research that benefits New Zealand," Mr Joyce says.

"Genetic improvement in the sheep industry has contributed greatly to farm profitability, and for every dollar captured on farm, another 50 cents is captured off-farm. In just 10 years Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics expect that farmers will receive $5.90 extra profit per lamb sold at that time."

The funding, contributed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, will allow further expansion into beef genetics, and will allow both the beef and sheep industries to further improve genetic gain in the development of new traits to satisfy the increasing trend of farming in hill country environments.

"Investing in genetics will help improve meat quality, contribute directly to improving on-farm profitability, and ensure were meeting the needs of consumers," Mr Joyce says.

"As a nation, we are already leading the world in pastoral animal and plant genetics. This partnership will help us maintain this critical position and to continue to build on it through further research and development in sheep and beef genetics."

AgResearch will play a major role in the partnership, along with other research partners Abacus Bio, Lincoln University, Massey University, and the University of Otago.

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$15m investment in sheep and beef genetics

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Genetic research to improve sheep and beef profitability will get a $15 million boost from the Government over the next five years.

Science and Innovation Minister Steven Joyce announced the investment today.

A new partnership called Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics will bring together existing sheep and beef genetics researchers Sheep Improvement Ltd, the Beef + Lamb New Zealand Central Progeny Test, and Ovita to run the programme.

Total funding for the new project from government and industry sources will be up to $8.8 million a year.

Joyce said science and innovation were major drivers of economic growth and international competitiveness, and the purpose-driven research would benefit New Zealand.

He said genetic improvement in the sheep industry had contributed greatly to farm profitability.

Over the next 10 years work by Beef + Lamb New Zealand Genetics is expected to deliver $5.90 extra profit to farmers for each lamb sold. For every dollar captured on farm, it is estimated another 50 cents is captured off-farm.

The funding, contributed by the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment, will go towards expanding research in beef genetics, and allow both the beef and sheep industries to improve genetic gains by developing new traits to satisfy the increasing trend of farming in hill-country environments.

Joyce said the genetics project would help improve meat quality, contribute directly to improving on-farm profitability, and ensure the needs of consumers were being met.

"As a nation, we are already leading the world in pastoral animal and plant genetics," he said.

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$15m sheep, beef genetics research boost

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SCIA Independence Expo 2014
You are invited to attend the Spinal Cord Injuries Australia (SCIA) Independence Expo on Saturday 5th April at Australian Technology Park, Sydney, from 10am ...

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Hannah RT600

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28 January 2014-Scientists from the Genome Institute of Singapore (GIS) in A*STAR have developed a novel method of directing human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) into highly pure populations of endoderm[1], a valuable cell type that gives rise to organs including the liver and pancreas.

These cells are highly sought-after for therapeutic and biotechnological purposes, but have been historically difficult to attain from hPSCs. The ability to generate pure endoderm at higher yields from hPSCs is a key and important step towards the use of stem cells in clinical applications.

The discovery, published in the prestigious scientific journal Cell Stem Cell in January 2014, was led by Dr Bing Lim, Senior Group Leader and Associate Director of Cancer Stem Cell Biology at the GIS, Dr Lay Teng Ang, a postdoctoral fellow from Dr Lims lab, and Kyle Loh, a graduate student at Stanford University School of Medicine.

hPSCs are stem cells that can generate over 200 distinct cell types in the human body. They respond to multiple external protein instructions to differentiate into other cell types. Therefore, generating one single cell type from hPSCs, and a pure population of that given cell type, is delicate as hPSCs have a tendency to also form other types of cells.

Employing a highly systematic and novel approach, the group screened for proteins and chemicals that promote the formation of a single desired cell type, and concurrently block induction of unwanted cell types. This strategy uncovered a combination of triggers that could drive hPSCs towards pure populations of endoderm. The valuable cells produced and the insights gained from this work have brought stem cells one step closer to clinical translation and furthered basic research into the understanding of how cell fates are specified during stem cell differentiation.

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:: 28, Jan 2014 :: SINGAPORE SCIENTISTS SUCCEED IN MANIPULATING STEM CELLS INTO LIVER AND PANCREAS PRECURSOR CELLS

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Richard M. Cohen -- Stem cell cultivation
Richard M. Cohen talks to Dr. Violaine K. Harris at the Tisch Multiple Sclerosis Research Institute about how she cultivates autologous, mesenchymal stem cel...

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sarah in RT 600 high load bearing
Gait training on RT 600.

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God Wants You Walking
Paralysis from a spinal cord injury (sci) or a debilitating disease is a condition that should not be a part of our lives. You may be hearing some handicappe...

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David Riddle Testimonial for Dr. Riddle #39;s Wound Spray
David Riddle Testimonial for Dr. Riddle #39;s Wound Spray.

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The latest Innovations in Cosmetic Skincare and Weight Loss--Anti-aging and Cosmetic Doctor
Naila Malik MD, Dallas cosmetic skincare and Dallas weight loss physician, discusses her philosophy for treating aging face, acne and weight gain for her Sou...

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Five Tips to Prevent Holiday Weight Gain-- Naila Malik MD
Dr. Naila Malik provides metabolic weight loss services at her Southlake Texas and Dallas Texas offices. Dr. Malik discusses five practical tips to prevent h...

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Sandy Hirsch was diagnosed with blood cancer in 2009, and a year later, she spent several weeks at Duke University to get a bone marrow transplant that wasnt available in Charlotte.

Today, the 65-year-old multiple myeloma patient is celebrating the opening of an adult bone marrow transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center. It means patients like her will no longer have to travel hours for treatment and be away from home for weeks at a time.

Its wonderful, Hirsch said last week. What a joy it would have been to have it in Charlotte and to keep my family around me.

The 16-bed, $10.5 million transplant unit the fourth such program in North Carolina opened Jan. 22 at Carolinas Medical Center, the flagship hospital in Carolinas HealthCare System. Until last week, Charlotte was the largest U.S. city without an adult bone marrow transplant program.

Its just a short walk from the hospital systems Levine Cancer Institute, which opened in 2012 and has since hired nine specialists in hematologic oncology, or blood cancer. They come from some of the most prestigious U.S. medical centers, including the Cleveland Clinic and Johns Hopkins University.

Weve recruited a cadre of physicians with expertise in all of the hematologic malignancies and nonmalignant hematologic diseases, said Dr. Belinda Avalos, vice chair of the institutes Department of Hematologic Oncology and Blood Disorders.

Patients should feel very confident that theyre in good hands if they come here for care, she said.

The first nine patients have moved into the unit, and officials say it will be filled soon because demand is great.

We have a waiting list already for transplants, at least a dozen on the list, said Dr. Edward Copelan, the department chair.

Copelan, who previously worked at the Cleveland Clinic, came to Charlotte in 2012 with his wife, Avalos, who previously worked at Ohio State University. They were recruited by Levine Cancer Institutes director, Dr. Derek Raghavan, who came to Charlotte a year earlier, also from the Cleveland Clinic.

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Levine Cancer Institute opens adult bone marrow transplant unit at Carolinas Medical Center

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17 hours ago by Katarina Sternudd

Scientists at Karolinska Institutet and Gurdon Institute in Cambridge, United Kingdom have identified a novel mechanism that allows pluripotent stem cells to maintain their genome in an unpacked state, and thereby maintain their unique property to give raise to all types of specialized cells in the body. The findings are presented in the journal Nature.

Embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells have the capacity to give rise to all cell types present in the adult body. To maintain this immature state, genes that are turned on in specialized cells must remain inactive in pluripotent cells, but ready to be quickly activated upon maturation into, for example, a cell in the skin or liver. The genome of a cell is packed in the nucleus, in a structure called chromatin. If the chromatin packing is tight (condensed), activatory molecules cannot access parts of the genome that control the activation of genes. Thus, for a certain gene to be activated, the chromatin structure must be unpacked (decondensation).

Pluripotent stem cells are unique in that their genome is partially unpacked (chromatin decondensation), when compared to specialized cells, to allow rapid activation of differentiation genes upon a given stimuli. In this published study, an international team, lead by Professor Tony Kouzarides, at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge, identified a specific enzymatic activity, called citrullination, that contributes to decondensed chromatin state in pluripotent cells.

"The genome (DNA) is highly negatively charged and is associated in the chromatin structure with proteins called histones, which are highly positively charged. We found that in pluripotent cells, citrullination reduces the charge of some histones, weakening their association with the genome and contributing to decondensation", says Gonalo Castelo-Branco, principal investigator at Karolinska Institutet and co-first author in the study with Maria Christophorou of the Gurdon Institute.

Gonalo Castelo-Branco's research group at Karolinska Institutet is now investigating roles for citrullination in other immature cells, such as oligodendrocyte precursors in the brain, which participate in myelin regeneration in multiple sclerosis, MS.

Research in this study was funded by grants from Cancer Research UK, the Swedish Research Council, EMBO, European Union 7th Framework Programme (FP7) Marie Curie Actions, among others grants. Gonalo Castelo-Branco implemented parts of the study at the Gurdon Institute, where he was previously a researcher, and at Karolinska Institutet. Among the study authors is also professor John Gurdon, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 2012. Apart from Sweden and United Kingdom, scientists from Denmark, Brasil and USA participated in the study.

Explore further: New method increases supply of embryonic stem cells

More information: "Citrullination regulates pluripotency and histone H1 binding to chromatin." Maria A. Christophorou, Gonalo Castelo-Branco, Richard P. Halley-Stott, et al. Nature (2014) DOI: 10.1038/nature12942. Received 06 September 2012 Accepted 06 December 2013 Published online 26 January 2014

Journal reference: Nature

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New mechanism for genome unpacking in stem cells

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