An individual with Down syndrome and a male calico cat have one thing in common—each has an extra chromosome. For animals, most instances of an extra chromosome result in birth defects or even death, but plants are another matter entirely. Many plants are able to survive the presence of an extra copy of their entire genome (known as polyploidy) and are often even more vigorous as a result. For plants, the process of polyploidy often results in a new species, making it an important mechanism in evolution. In fact, over 80% of plants may be a product of polyploidy.

Researchers from several institutions including the University of Colorado at Boulder have sequenced DNA "barcodes" for as many as 25 hunted wildlife species, providing information that can be used to better monitor the elusive trade of wildlife products, or bushmeat.

In line with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) interest in characterizing the biotic factors involved in global carbon cycling, the DOE Joint Genome Institute (JGI) characterizes a diverse array of plants, microorganisms, and the communities in which they reside to inform options for reducing and stabilizing atmospheric greenhouse gases.

Researchers at The Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee have identified the genetic region in rats responsible for cardiovascular collapse during anesthesia. While it is well known that people have different cardiovascular sensitivity to anesthesia causing some to collapse even when low doses are administered, the mechanism responsible for this susceptibility is not clear.

Danaher’s impending acquisition of MDS’ Analytical Technologies division will include ownership of MDS' Molecular Devices business, which in turn sells a line of Axon GenePix scanners that are widely used by microarray users. These products include the Axon GenePix 4400A, which can generate images with 2.5-micron resolution using four lasers, and the 4300A, which can generate images with up to 5-micron resolution using four laser scanners. Both scanners were launched last year (see BAN 5/13/2008).

One way in which men and women differ is in their expression of liver proteins that control a large number of whole-body processes such as energy generation and lipid and steroid hormone production and turnover. Now, Walter Wahli and colleagues, at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, have identified a new mechanism underlying this differential expression of proteins in male and female mice. The research appears in the Sept. 1, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

A study in the September issue of Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, may give new meaning to the adage "You are what you eat." The DNA isolated from the muscles of people with diabetes bears chemical marks not found in those who respond normally to rising blood sugar levels, according to the report. The epigenetic marks in question are specifically found on a gene that controls the amount of fuel, in the form of glucose or lipids, that cells burn. Those marks also show up in the skeletal muscle of people with prediabetes, suggesting that the DNA modification might be an early event in the development of the disease.