Campaigns
The Maetreum of Cybele needs your help in their fight for religious freedom.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, H.R. 3261) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA, S. 968) would devastate the online economy and overall web freedom, including sites with user generated content.
For information, visit the SOPA Blackout site and read An open letter to Washington from tech industry leaders.
Petition: remove women of transsexual / intersex history from the GLAAD Media Reference Guide. [ sign ]
Read: Andrea Rosenfield's call for reform.
Opening Doors to Transsexual Medical Research
TS-Si supports open and immediate access to publicly funded research.
xkcd
TS-Si
is dedicated to the acceptance, medical
treatment, and legal
protection of individuals correcting the misalignment
of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition
into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.
is dedicated to the acceptance, medical
treatment, and legal
protection of individuals correcting the misalignment
of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition
into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens.
| Structural Genomics And Open Access To Epigenetic Data |
 |
 |
| SciMed - Genetics & Genome | |||
| TS-Si News Service | |||
| Thursday, 04 September 2008 16:30 | |||
 TS-Si  Genetics And GenomeGainesville, FL, USA. A hybrid plant species may experience rapid genome evolution in predictable patterns, suggesting that evolution in hybrid plants may follow a set of rules that determine which parental genes are lost.
T... DNA in order to ensure our cells form various tissue types (e.g., liver and skin, despite identical DNA genetic code. Proteins perform many of the essential functions in the human body. When a protein, or a group of proteins, fail to act in their normal way, we are prone to sickness. Most medicines exploit this by binding to proteins and influencing their activity. Researchers can design drugs with molecules that fit if they know the shape of a protein "target".
So, when DNA is copied from cell to cell, it is essential that the epigenetic code is also copied accurately. If not, a liver cell may divide into another type of cell, such as a nerve or eye cell. A breakdown in this system might also mean that a gene for cell growth is accidentally switched on, for example, leading to unregulated cell growth and the development of tumors.
 Researchers have determined the 3D structure of a key protein component involved in enabling "epigenetic code" to be copied accurately from cell to cell. Image courtesy of the Wellcome Trust.
The field of structural
genomics is focused on the three-dimensional structures of proteins. Ordinarily. it is very expensive to determine a new protein structure (as much as US$1 million. However, more systematic approaches have become possble with the arrival of methodological improvements, computers, and access to the complete sequence of our DNA (the human genome). The information on structure provides a powerful means to develop a diagram of a protein suitable for further research and implementation in new treatment methds.
Research published in 2007 showed the importance of the nuclear protein UHRF1 in ensuring that the epigenetic code is accurately copied. Epigenetic switches are created by the addition of a chemical group (methyl) to DNA in a process known as
methylation, facilitated by the enzyme DNMT1. The researchers believe that when this code is copied, UHRF1 ensures the accuracy of the process, like a proof-reader checks a typeset article before printing. The key element of UHRF1 involved in this "proofreading" process is known as the Set and Ring Associated (SRA) domain, but the exact mechanisms by which the SRA domain accomplishes this task were unclear. The journal Nature concurrently published three different articles that facilitate understanding of the UHRF1 structure.
 Professor Sirano Dhe-Paganon from the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) laboratories at the University of Toronto (Canada). [N1]
"Given the increasing focus on epigenetics as a mechanism behind cancer, elucidating the structure of UHRF1 may provide crucial insights into what goes wrong," says Dhe-Paganon.
The structural papers not only represent an advance for the epigenetics field, but also an advance for how the science was done. The concurrent publication of the three papers highlights the competitive nature of this field, but in fact these papers were made possible because the SGC, in keeping with its policy of making its data freely and immediately available, made the underlying information available in the Protein Data Bank (PDB) late in 2007. The availability of this information allowed the other groups to make more rapid progress in their own work.
"By releasing the structural information into the public databases as soon as it was available, we have ensured that other research groups could make immediate and maximum benefit from the shared knowledge," says Professor Dhe-Paganon.
 Professor Masahiro Shirakawa. from Kyoto University (Japan).
Shirakawa openly acknowledges that the SGC data was crucial to his team's paper, which also appears in the journal Nature. "Structural biology is a complex, but very important field, with the potential to drive forward important research in many areas. The information provided by the SGC significantly speeded up our own work."
The SGC's "open source" policy contrasts with the accepted practice in the structural biology field, which is to make the underlying data available only after the work appears in print. However, Professor Al Edwards, Director of the SGC, believes strongly that data such as the 3D structure of proteins should be made freely available as soon as they are discovered.
"From the outset, it's been important to us to release our structural data immediately," says Professor Edwards. "This is contrary to the way many scientists work, but we believe it is crucial for facilitating scientific and medical progress, and our policy has not inhibited our ability to publish our work in the top journals. All the protein structures studied by the SGC have medical relevance and making them freely available ensures that scientists are able to use them to make progress in our understanding of disease and the development of new drugs."
 The TS-Si News Service is a collaborative effort by TS-Si.org editors, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The sources can include the cited individuals and organizations, as well as TS-Si.org staff contributions. Articles and news reports do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si, its partners, or affiliates.We welcome your comments. Use the form below to leave a public comment or send private correspondence via the TS-Si Contact Page. We will not divulge any personal details or place you on a mailing list without your permission. TS-Si is dedicated to the acceptance, medical treatment, and legal protection of individuals correcting the misalignment of their brains and their anatomical sex, while supporting their transition into society as hormonally reconstituted and surgically corrected citizens. 
 
Tweet
Email this
Comments (0)
 Write comment
|
|||
| Last Updated on Tuesday, 09 September 2008 01:36 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
Show/hide comments
Show/hide comment form
The TS-Si News Service
and the TS-Si Research Service are collaborations of TS-Si officials, staff, contributors, and corresponding institutions. The contents do not necessarily convey official positions of TS-Si or its owners, participants, partners, or affiliates.