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Genomics, Molecular Cytogenetics, Chromosomes,
Genome Organization, Cells and Systems Biology
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New March 2010 - Crocus and the Saffron Link to Previous News Stories from this page |
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March 2010 Crocus in the news
Focus on the crocus - Leicester's internationally acclaimed genetics research involved in European project into saffron production. Details are presented in our news story - Focus on the Crocus Photographs of posters and gardens are here: Phh7313 – Richard Gornall (Centre_ and Pat Heslop-Harrison (Right) Discussing Crocus Origins With David Watkin (left, Chair of the Friends of the Botanic Garden) |
Synchronization of Oscillations
See the work with colleagues from Department of Bio and Brain Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in Journal of Cell Science Kim J-R, Shin D, Jung SH, Heslop-Harrison P, Cho K-H. 2010. A design principle underlying the synchronization of oscillations in cellular systems. Journal of Cell Science doi: 10.1242/jcs.060061 (password for this link only) A movie film shows the induction of synchronization by the interactions. |
Biomass Gene Locations (QTLs) Identified in Ryegrass
(first link needs password, second needs subscription) | |||||||||||||
Pat Heslop-Harrison, Trude Schwarzacher and the Molecular Cytogenetics and Plant Cell Biology Group study the biology of the cell nucleus: its spatial and dynamic organisation or architecture, the function and interactions of its components, and the nature, evolution, expression, recombination and segregation of the DNA sequences within the nucleus at interphase, mitosis and meiosis. We look at repetitive DNA and its evolution, with a particular focus on tandemly repeated satellite sequences and retrotransposons. We look at the biodiversity of genes, particularly in crops, and those related to pathology and disease resistance, sustainability and consumer traits, and abiotic stress and have interests in sources and uses of genomic mutations. Key methods include molecular cytogenetics, DNA sequence analysis and systems biology approaches. Taking a comparative genomics approach, we have interlinked projects with a range of different species: a particular focus is on plant crop species (banana, cereals including wheat, rye and barley, Brassicas, Saffron Crocus and Pea/Groundnut), while important projects include work with Dictyostelium and E. coli, Drosophila, Scallops (Pecten), and bovids. We have a number of projects on germplasm utilization in plant breeding. ECA course in Nimes 2010 - Plant Molecular Cytogenetics slides here (11MB large PDF - wait for download). A paper on "Biology and Engineering: Coming Together in Systems Biology" was presented in Korea (link on title opens 8MB PDF of my talk). Video-on-demand VOD of my talk is at http://www.eimbl.org/club.intro.seminar.list.screen?p_cate=35 A paper on Genomics, Economics and Bananas was presented at the OECD meeting on Tropical Fruits in November 2008 (indirect link). Related websites: www.SBLab.org for our Systems Biology work. Link to PubMed database and paper downloads (click on 'page' icon next to title).
Our work is
important in showing the evolution and interaction of the majority of sequences in the
genome, and their physical and functional relationships. The unifying
aim of our work in terms of fundamental biology is the understanding of
the dynamic and functional architecture of the cell nucleus, leading to
an integrated structural, physical and functional map of the genome.
The current projects are within the University of Leicester. As part of cell biology, our interests include the RNA and proteins located within the nucleus, and their temporal and spatial relationships. We take a comparative approach to genome analysis, investigating many different species to find universal and species-specific features of genome organization. In animals, we work with the Bovideae, rodents and some insects. Within plants, we work with the Gramineae (wheat, rye, barley), Chenopodiaceae (sugar beet), Palmae (oil palm), Pinaceae (pine, spruce), Leguminoseae, Iridacae (Crocus), Cruciferae (Brassica and Arabidopsis), Musaceae (banana). In systems biology, we use Dictyostelium models. Pat Heslop-Harrison is Professor of Molecular Cytogenetics and Cell Biology at the University of Leicester. His interests include genetic diversity, crop evolution and breeding. Pat Heslop-Harrison moved from the Karyobiology Group, John Innes Centre, Norwich UK in October 2000. Trude Schwarzacher is Lecturer in Molecular cytogenetics in the University of Leicester. She moved from the Cereals Department, John Innes Centre in January 2001. To assist indexing programmes, this home page is designed to be key-word rich, and variant spellings are used (e.g. organization/organisation, labelling/labeling, hybridization/hybidisation). www.molcyt.com - index.htm |
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