Press Releases
Study illuminates photosynthesis as an evolutionary process
HudsonAlpha scientists among those examining tiny algae
HUNTSVILLE, Ala - When you think about walking through a tall meadow of grass, you likely envision peace and calm. But on a sunny day those grass blades are busy factories turning light into food energy through a complex mechanism of enzymes arranged in the photosynthetic pathway. Those grass cells can only act as factories because distant ancestors declared war on other cells and swallowed them whole, trapping and forcing them to work for the grass cell.
Buttoning up the button mushroom genome
HUNTSVILLE, Ala - You may know it as your favorite pizza topping but researchers also know the button mushroom, or Agaricus bisporus, as a known decayer of leaves and other matter along the forest floor. Through an international collaboration including the HudsonAlpha Institute, the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute and numerous other research labs, the full genome and gene repertoire for the button mushroom has been completed, giving scientists a better understanding of its full capabilities. Study reveals new targets for some cancers of the lymphatic system
HudsonAlpha part of research team
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - HudsonAlpha scientists, in collaboration with Sandeep Dave, M.D., Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, and other colleagues from leading research institutions across the nation, have found new gene targets for cancer patients with a particular type of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
“By sequencing the exomes, or the 3 percent of the genome which contains genes, in 51 Burkitt lymphoma tumors and eight cell lines, we were able to show 70 other genes were mutated regularly in this tumor type,” said Shawn Levy, Ph.D., faculty investigator at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology. “A number of these genes had never previously been shown to be mutated in cancer, so this work gives the scientific community more targets for diagnostics and therapeutics.”
How the cat got his blotches
As any cat lover knows, distinct patterns of dark and light hair color are apparent not only in house cats but also in their wild relatives, from cheetahs to tigers to snow leopards. Researchers at the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and Stanford University, along with colleagues around the world, today reported new genetic findings that help to understand the molecular basis of these patterns in all felines.
HudsonAlpha takes part in publishing genomic insightsMushroom history could advance energy future
HUNTSVILLE, Ala.-- Fossil evidence suggests that coal deposits in the earth sharply decreased around the end of the Carboniferous period. Using genome sequence of fungi living now, Jeremy Schmutz from the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology and colleagues around the world say mushrooms may hold the clues to this decrease while also providing insight to spur technical progress for cellulosic biofuels production.