A Better Way To 'Spell Check' Gene Sequences
A PhD student from CSIRO and the University of Queensland has found a better way to 'spell check' gene sequences and help biologists better understand the natural world. The student, Lauren Bragg, has contributed to the May issue of the prestigious journal Nature Methods highlighting her new approach and its software implementation called Acacia. Acacia analyses the output of next-generation gene sequencing instruments which read the four-letter alphabet of As, Cs, Ts and Gs - the 'bases' that code for DNA and spell out the genes of different living organisms... (Source: Health News from Medical News Today)

Involvement of neuropathy target esterase in tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate-induced testicular spermatogenesis failure and growth inhibition of spermatogonial stem cells in mice.
Authors: Chen JX, Xu LL, Mei JH, Yu XB, Kuang HB, Liu HY, Wu YJ, Wang JL Abstract Tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate (TOCP) has been widely used in industry and reported to induce delayed neurotoxicity in humans and animals. In addition, it is known to have a deleterious effect on the male reproductive system in animals, but the precise mechanism is yet to be elucidated. The present study shows that TOCP could disrupt the seminiferous epithelium in the mouse testis and decrease the sperm density in the epididymis in a dose-dependent manner. Neuropathy target esterase (NTE) was shown to exist in mouse spermatogenic cells, including spermatogonial stem cells and to be significantly inhibited by TOCP. Likewise, saligenin cyclic-o-tolyl phosphate (SCOTP), an activated metabolite of TOCP, marke...