International Congress of Genetics

Genomics revolutionized genetic research. Now, complete annotated genome
sequences are available for the human, our closest relative, the chimpanzee,
and for many other model organisms. Multiple genomes have been compared and
scrutinized for past and ongoing processes of variation, adaptation and speciation. Traces of the foregoing RNA world show it to be far more influential than previously suspected. Comprehensive maps of genome variation and polymorphism paint a rich picture of our population and evolutionary history and illustrate new strategies that will explain genetic, epigenetic and environmental contributions to disease risk. Transcriptomes comprehensively documenting gene expression and proteomic data sets are being built into functional networks and systems. Bioinformatics and modeling of genomic data attempt to predict and explain the functional architecture of genomes across the diversity of organisms.

The Congress in Berlin will present the latest genetic and genomic insights in ten plenary lectures and 54 concurrent symposia. 280 of the world’s most prominent geneticists will speak.


Scientific Topics:
(selection)
• Aging and longevity
• Biodiversity
• Clocks and rhythms
• Computational genetics and systems biology
• Development of multicellular organisms
• Epigenetics and chromatin
• Evolutionary genomics, adaptation, speciation
• Human evolution
• Human genetics and human disease
• Metagenomics
• Neurogenetics
• RNA world
• Stem cells
• Synthetic biology

For more information on the scientific program and associated activities, please visit:

www.geneticsberlin2008.com

GENOMICS A High-Salt Lifestyle

Bonneau et al. describe progress in an effort to link systems-level analysis to events at the molecular and organismal levels. Using experiments and computation, they have pooled transcriptome, protein-protein interaction, structural, and evolution-related data to generate a dynamic model of the halophilic organism Halobacterium salinarum. This model was trained on data sets that included more than 200 microarray experiments measuring responses to genetic perturbations and environmental factors (oxygen, sunlight, transition metals, ultraviolet radiation, and desiccation and rehydration). The model, known as EGRIN (environment and gene regulatory influence network) represents transcriptional regulation for 1929 of the 2400 genes in H. salinarum, and it was used to predict transcriptional changes after environmental or genetic perturbations (or combinations thereof) that had been held out of the training data sets. As an example, the gene nhaC3 encodes a Na+ extrusion pump that allows this organism to grow under high-salt conditions. Analyses of a map of protein-DNA interactions generated from ChIP-chip data could not dissect which of five possible transcriptional regulators governed expression of the gene, yet one of these was predicted by EGRIN to have the strongest effect, which was confirmed in laboratory experiments.


Sources:

A Predictive Model for Transcriptional Control of Physiology in a Free Living Cell
Cell 2007 131: 1354-1365

DNA-Assisted Molecular Delivery

Many examples have been reported of assembly of atoms and small molecules into patterns on surfaces by pick up, transfer, and release with a scanning probe microscope tip under vacuum conditions. Kufer et al. assembled larger single molecules into patterns on surfaces in aqueous solution with an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip by taking advantage of differential forces acting on double-stranded DNA. "Depots" and "target" areas containing single-stranded (ss) 30-nucleotide (nt) DNAs were patterned onto glass slides, and then ssDNAs bearing the complementary sequence, a 20-nt "shear" sequence, and an organic dye molecule were attached to the depot area. An AFM tip bearing the complementary shear sequence could pick up DNAs from the depot area and then deposit them in the target area with a precision of ~ 10 nanometers. Measurement of the rupture forces differentiates single from multiple or zero DNA transfers and ensures the fidelity of delivery, which could be repeated up to 5000 times.


Sources:

Single-Molecule Cut-and-Paste Surface Assembly. Kufer et al. Science 1 February 2008: Vol. 319. no. 5863, pp. 594 - 596.