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July 2013
Volume 3 Issue 7
Spotlights in Genomics / News from BGI / Research Highlight / Picks of BGI-Tech
Spotlights in Genomics
Human Health & Medicine
1. Promising Target Found in Treating Deadly Brain Cancer
More
2. Gene Mutations Caused by a Father's Lifestyle Can Be Inherited by Multiple Generations
3. New Regulatory Autism Gene Discovered
More
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4. DNA Particles in the Blood May Help Speed Detection of Coronary Artery Disease
5. Inactivation of Taste Genes Causes Male Sterility
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6. Researchers Discover Molecule That Drives Aggressive Breast Cancer
7. Whole Genome or Exome Sequencing: An Individual Insight
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8. Overweight Causes Heart Failure: Large Study With New Method Clarifies the Association
More
Pharma & Biotech
1. Ritalin Shows Promise in Treating Addiction
More
2. Tiny Nanocubes Help Scientists Tell Left from Right
More
3. Rival Obesity Drugs Seek out Patients, and Acceptance
4. Merck: FDA Wants More Studies of Insomnia Drug
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5. Study Predicts Cancer Drug Responsiveness in Human Tumors
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6. Expensive or Not, Rheumatoid Arthritis Drugs Have Similar Effect: Study
7. Simple Two-drug Combination Proves Effective in Reducing Risk of Stroke
8. New Designer Drugs Multiplying, Testing Authorities, UN Says
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Plants & Animals
1. Comparing Genomes of Wild and Domestic Tomato
More
2. Genomic Atlas of Gene Switches in Plants Provides Roadmap for Crop Research
3. Chalking Up a Marine Blooming Alga: Genome Fills a Gap in the Tree of Life
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4. Population Sequencing Study Provides Fodder for Foxtail Millet GWAS, Haplotype Map, and More
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5. Researchers Explore Hydraulic and Photosynthetic Design of Giant Leaves of Alocasia macrorrhiza
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6. Genetic Diversity Key to Survival of Honey Bee Colonies
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7. Birds of a Feather Create New Species Together—and Here's How
8. Caterpillars Attracted to Plant SOS
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Microbe
1. Is That Bacteria Dead Yet? Nano and Laser Technology Packed Into Small Device Tests Antibiotic
More
Treatment in Minutes
2. Salmonella Infection Is a Battle Between Good and Bad Bacteria in the Gut
3. Rotation-Resistant Rootworms Owe Their Success to Gut Microbes
4. Study of Insect Bacteria Reveals Genetic Secrets of Symbiosis
5. Hunting for New Genes by Sequencing Seas Samples
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6. New Palm-sized Microarray Technique Grows 1,200 Individual Cultures of Microbes
7. Bacteria Sent into Space Behave in Mysterious Ways
8. Chlamydia Promotes Gene Mutations
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Join us for 2013
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International Conferences on Genomics
News from BGI
BGI Ranked 119 of Global Top 200 Scientific
Institutions in 2012
The Duck Genome Provides New Insight into
Fighting Bird Flu
On June 20, 2013, Nature Publishing Group released Nature
Publishing Index 2012 Global. BGI was ranked 119 of Global
Top 200 Scientific Institutions in 2012.
More
The duck genome consortium, consisted of scientists from
China Agricultural University, BGI, University of Edinburgh and
other institutes has completed the genome sequencing and
analysis of the duck (Anas platyrhynchos), one principal
natural host of influenza A viruses. This work reveals some
noteworthy conclusions and provides an invaluable resource
for unraveling the interactive mechanisms between the host
and influenza viruses.
More
BGI Forms New Partnership with Three
Universities in Turkey for Advancing Genomics
and its Clinical Applications
BGI announces it has formed new partnership with Bogazici
Univeristy, Acibadem University, and Cankiri Karatekin
University, respectively. Mr. Qin Xu, Mayor of Shenzhen,
China and Kadir Topbaş, Mayor of Istanbul together
witnessed these strategic collaborations at a Sino-Turkey
signing ceremony attended by numerous Chinese and
Turkish universities, institutes and enterprises.
More
Asian Cancer Research Group and BGI Report
New Evidence for the Genetic Bases of Liver
Cancer
The Asian Cancer Research Group (ACRG), an independent,
not-for-profit company in collaboration with BGI and The
University of Hong Kong (HKU), jointly announced the
publication of findings from a study of recurrent mutations in
hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), one of the most deadly
cancers worldwide, in the international journal Genome
Research. The study provides new insights into potential
therapeutic intervention strategies for this common form of
liver cancer.
More
BGI Health and Association of Czech genetic
Centers Announce Opening of a Joint Prenatal
Test Facility
BGI Health, a subsidiary sequencing application unit of BGI,
and Association of Czech genetic centers jointly announced
the founding of a genetic test facility center in Prague, Czech,
which will be the companies first test center focusing on
prenatal diagnostics in Europe. Investment and Business
Development Agency CzechInvest helped mediate the
project. The announcement ceremony was attended by Mrs
Kopicova, the first Vice-Chairman of the Research,
Development and Innovation Council of the Czech
Government, Dr. Jian Wang, President of BGI and Dr. Matej
Stejskal, executive director of GENNET and chairman of
Association of Czech genetic centers.
More
Genomes for Science, Genomes for Life, and
Genomes for You and Me
ICG Europe 2013, co-organized by BGI and VIB, was
successfully concluded on June 28 in Ghent, Belgium
presenting numerous recent advances on genomics and its
growing applications. A broader spectrum of genomics topics
have been discussed in greater depth, particularly focusing on
personalized and public healthcare, biomedical research,
plant and animal genomics, and metagenomics.
More
Scientists Decode the Genomic Sequence of
700,000-year-old Horse
The international team, which included researchers from
University of Copenhagen, BGI and other institutes, has
successfully sequenced and analyzed the short pieces of DNA
preserved in bone-remnants from a horse frozen for the last
700,000 years in the permafrost of Yukon, Canada. This is the
oldest genome reported so far, which is ten times as old as the
ancient Denisovan genome reported in last year. The work
here laid a solid foundation for researchers to further decode
other extinct species and clarify biology evolution.
More
Research Highlight
Ancient Genomes Reveal Their Secrets
1. Genome of 700,000-year-old Horse: Push limits of DNA survival
In 2013, researchers have successfully sequenced and analyzed the short pieces of
DNA preserved in bone-remnants from a horse frozen for the last 700,000 years in the
permafrost of Yukon, Canada. This represents the oldest full genome sequence to date
by almost an order of magnitude. DNA molecules can be well reserved in species
fossils, not as whole chromosomes but as short pieces, while theoretical and empirical
evidence suggest the age of this horse fossil approaches the upper limit of DNA
survival.
Learn More
2. Denisovan Genome: Bring ancient girl to life
Svante Pääbo and his colleagues sequenced DNA that they isolated from a finger bone
fragment discovered in the Denisova Cave in southern Siberia. They found that it
belonged to a young girl who lived in Siberia's Denisova Cave more than 50,000 years
ago. The view of the ancient genome is so clear that researchers were able to detect
that Denisovans, like modern humans, had 23 pairs of chromosomes, rather than 24
pairs, as in chimpanzees. By comparison, the team calculated that the Denisovan and
modern human populations finally split between 170,000 and 700,000 years ago.
Learn More
3. Aboriginal Australians: The first explorers
In 2011, scientists have successfully pieced together the human genome from an
Aboriginal Australian. By sequencing the genome, the researchers demonstrated that
Aboriginal Australians descend directly from an early human expansion into Asia that
took place some 70,000 years ago, at least 24,000 years before the population
movements that gave rise to present-day Europeans and Asians. The results imply that
modern day Aboriginal Australians are in fact the direct descendents of the first
people who arrived in Australia as early as 50,000 years ago.
Learn More
4. Genome of an Extinct Palaeo-Eskimo
In 2010, researchers decoded DNA that was obtained from ~4,000-year-old human’s
permafrost-preserved hair. The genome represents a male individual from the first
known culture to settle in Greenland. The genomic data enable researchers have as
sharp a picture of this ancient genome as they would of a living person’s features, for
example that the male had blood type A+, brown eyes, increased risk of baldness and
shovel-graded front teeth.
Learn More
Picks of BGI-Tech
Rapid RNA-Seq, ONLY 4 Hours Per RUN
BGI Tech announces the launch of the Ion Proton™ RNA-Seq service based on state-of-the-art Ion
Proton sequencing platform. Using the next generation semiconductor technology, sequencing can be
completed in just a few hours. Combined with our powerful bioinformatics analysis, our Ion Proton
RNA-Seq service can be applied to drug response studies, biomarker detection, agronomic trait
research, basic medical research, and drug R&D.
Learn More
Advantages:
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