Fragrance in some varieties of rice (Oryza sativa) like Basmati , Jasmine is considered to be one of most important trait of the grains, which finally determines the market price. Scientists trying to find out the genetic origin of fragrance in these crops zeroed on a betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene, BADH2, present of 8th chromosome, to be associated with the fragrant phenotype. However the origin and evolution of the betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene (BADH2) remained unclear. O. sativa consists of two major varietal groups, Indica and Japonica.
To unravel this mystery …

The diversity among various life forms on our planet is immense and one reason for their flourishing could be fusion of two prokaryotes, claims a latest report by James A. Lake. This hypothesis which provides new insights into prokaryotes and the evolution of life, was published in latest issue of journal Nature.
The prokaryotes are a group of organisms that lack a cell nucleus , or any other membrane-bound organelles. They differ from the eukaryotes, which have a well defined membrane bound nucleus containing the genetic material DNA. In Prokaryotes ,DNA …

Few months back i wrote a post “Biological classification of animals” dealing the classification of all the animals on our planet Earth, which also happens to be one of most viewed blog post on Hoxful Monsters.In that post we have seen that animals with three germ layers (triploblastic animals) can be divided in protostomes and Deuterostomes based on the fate of first opening of the development. Further we have seen that Deuterostomes can be classified into : Chordata, Echinodermata, Hemichordata and Xenoturbella. Today we shall try to gain some insights …

Last issue of current biology reports an exciting find from the lab of Konrad Basler in Zurich ,where they demonstrate Transcription in the Absence of Histone H3.3. Normally methylation of histone H3 lysine 4 (H3K4me2 and H3K4me3) are indications of chromatin at active genes.Martina Hödl and Konrad Basler looked into this aspect into more details by by replacing wild-type H3.3 with a mutant form (H3.3K4A) that cannot be methylated. Studying the effects of mutant form of H3.3K4A in Drosophila ,authors looked into the transcription output in response to different signaling …

Signaling pathways play crucial role in pattern formation and cross talk between different pathways forms an important aspect of developmental biology. During early embryogenesis ,cells are exposed to various multitude of growth factors,which will be put together to generate a particular cell differentiation decision. Wingless/wnt and dpp/BMP pathways are widely studied for their roles in various aspects of developmental biology.Dpp is the Drosophila homolog of the vertebrate bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are members of the TGF-β superfamily. (266)

The latest issue of Current Topics in Developmental Biology features all the chapters of the new book on Hox genes ,which is edited by Olivier Pourquie. The hardbound copy of the book can be bought online from springer and Amazon.However one needs a subscription to the journal to see the full text of the chapters from the book.
This book has several interesting chapters covering all important aspects of these master regulator genes and also has Preface by Olivier Pourquié.I have started reading the first three chapters (as they …

Firefox is great browser used by many and what makes it even more useful is the fact that it comes with an option of some very handy Add-ons. Some days back, Nick Oswald, editor-in-chief of the Bitesize Bio blog posted a blog entry on new Firefox Add-ons for scientists and that was a follow up to his famous post from 2007. He describes some very useful Add-ons for the research scientists and I would encourage to read his blog posts for all possible add-ons from Firefox. Today i just describe …