A group of geneticists from Berkeley Lab, UC Davis, UC Santa Cruz, and UC Berkeley are unraveling new details about human evolution by studying the uniquely regulated portion of our chromosomes that surround the centromeres. These stretches of DNA – termed centromere-proximal regions (CPRs) – are largely composed of highly repetitive, mostly non-gene-coding sequences that … Read more »
Genes, Early Environment Sculpt the Gut Microbiome
Researchers from Berkeley Lab’s Biological Systems & Engineering (BSE) Division and the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory found that genes and early environment play big roles in shaping the gut microbiome. The microbes retained a clear “signature” formed where the mice were first raised, and the characteristics carried over to the next generation. The findings, published on November 28 in the journal Nature Microbiology, could potentially be used to develop designer diets optimized to an individual’s microbiome.
The BSE research team included first author Antoine Snijders, corresponding author Jian-Hua Mao, and Sasha Langley. Read more on the Berkeley Lab News Center.
Genetic Factors That Influence Body Weight, Neurological Disorders Identified
A new study has identified genetic factors that influence motor performance and body weight in a genetically diverse group of mice. The Lab researchers also found the genes identified in the mice overlap significantly with genes related to neurological disorders and obesity in people. Jian-Hua Mao and Antoine Snijders in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division led the Biosciences research team, which included colleagues in their division (Sasha Langley, Yurong Huang, Michael Hang, Kristofer Bouchard, and Gary Karpen) and the Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology Division (Susan Celniker and Ben Brown). Read more at the Berkeley Lab News Center.
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