Current Genomics - Volume 6, Issue 4, 2005

The idea that all humans naturally belong to one of a few biological types or races that evolved in isolation was unchallenged for centuries, but large-scale modern studies failed to associate racial labels with recognizable genetic clusters. Recently, the conclusions of those studies have been questioned by authors who argue that racial classification has objective scientific bases and is indispensable in epidemiology and genetic Read More

The maintenance and assembly of chromatin is critical for the health of all cells. Cells, whether dividing or quiescent, that propagate damaged DNA or maintain chromosomes that are not properly assembled and/or packaged will ultimately succumb to genomic instability and cell death. Chromatin, the building block of the chromosome, is composed of repeated units of 147 basepairs of DNA wrapped around two copies o Read More

Parkinson disease is one of the most common human neurodegenerative diseases. Its importance has led to a large number of studies focused on the development of cellular and animal models for the disease. We first discuss the potentials and limitations of the available mammalian models for PD. The results obtained so far in some alternative models, such as yeasts or invertebrates (Drosophila, Caenorhabditis), that may b Read More

A large number of tumor suppressor genes have been identified in Drosophila. Mutations in these genes cause effects in a wide range of tissues resulting in hyperplastic and, in the case of a few specific genes, neoplastic growth. The study of these tumors can provide molecular and cellular information that may shed some light on the possible mechanisms of tumorigenesis and invasiveness of human tumor cells. Recently, se Read More

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCL) are the most common childhood neurodegenerative disorders with a worldwide incidence of up to 1 in 12, 500 live births. Various subtypes have been described on a clinical and genetic level, with mutations in one of at least eight genes, termed CLN1-8, forming the molecular basis of the disease. Since mutations in distinct genes result in similar pathologies, suggesting a common biologic Read More

Newly developed full-length cDNA library technologies have enabled us to generate an unprecedented scale of cDNA resources with respect to both the forms of the physical cDNA clones and cDNA sequence information. Detailed annotations were attached to each of the cDNAs both computationally and manually and several integrated databases on the cDNA information were launched in a publicly accessible manne Read More