Genetic Code

AIDS researchers and experts warned yesterday that Human Genome Sciences Inc.'s announcement that it had sequenced and patented the genetic code for a key doorway the virus uses to infect cells is no guarantee that any significant new drugs will ever be developed from the breakthrough. In short, don't expect a "cure" or any dramatic new drugs anytime soon. That didn't stop shares in the Rockville-based biotechnology company from spiking higher for a second day yesterday. They closed at $217.

WEATHER Today's forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high temperature around 51 degrees. It is expected to be cloudy with a low temperature around 41 degrees tonight. TRAFFIC Here are today's morning traffic issues . FROM LAST NIGHT... O'Malley writes to Sparrows Point lender : Gov. Martin O'Malley has asked a key lender to R.G. Steel to reconsider its decision to freeze some company funds, saying the move has contributed to the firm's decision to lay off workers at its Sparrows Point mill.

WASHINGTON -- A team of scientists headed by researchers at the Institute for Genomic Research in Rockville has cracked the genetic code for a tiny, ancient organism that thrives only in deep sea thermal vents, a breakthrough experts say should help decipher how life evolved on this planet."

Researchers working to discover why African Americans disproportionately suffer from asthma are planning to map the genetic code of 1,000 people of African descent in four years. The Johns Hopkins -led team of experts in genetics, immunology, epidemiology and allergic disease want to know why up to 20 percent of black people have asthma. The disease afflicts 20 million Americans, causes difficultly breathing, wheezing and tightness in the chest and can lead to hospitalization and death.

In a step that could lead to new ways of detecting and treating cancer, Johns Hopkins researchers reported yesterday that they had deciphered the genetic code of breast and colon tumors. The discovery, described in the online version of the journal Science, is the first time anyone has spelled out the complete genetic makeup - or genome - of a human cancer. In doing so, the scientists identified close to 200 genes whose mutations play a role in the formation and spread of the disease. Dr. Bert Vogelstein, one of three Hopkins University researchers who spearheaded the effort, said the discovery gives cancer researchers precise targets for new drugs and screening tests.

WASHINGTON - For the first time, scientists have deciphered the complete genetic code of a plant, providing new tools to produce sturdier, more nourishing plants and to protect them better from pests and disease. Researchers say the DNA of a common weed known as arabidopsis - or thale-cress - will be a valuable supplement to the still-unfinished human genome project. "Scientists now have a genetic road map to use in developing higher quality foods, new fibers, medicines and energy sources that will be needed in this new century," said Mary Clutter, assistant director of the National Science Foundation, which financed much of the work.

Balancing on her lab stool, Monique Jenkins quickly flips through her notebook to check how many drops of distilled water to add to the solution. She adjusts her goggles and gingerly picks up a syringe. She's still a little tentative, handling the solution that will be used to try to fathom the secrets of bacterial life in Baltimore's harbor. It's a sophisticated project - especially for this research team. These are not scientists with doctoral degrees; they're high school students from the inner city.

Eager to combat life-threatening diseases from cancer to cholera, scientists have unraveled the genetic blueprints of some of the nastiest bugs that plague the human race. Now German researchers say they have the genetic code of a microbe that won't kill anybody but contributes to one of the great torments of adolescence. Reporting in the journal Science, the researchers describe the genome of the bacterium, Propionibacterium acnes. Not always an evildoer, the bug sits on the surface of everyone's skin.

A team of international scientists has cracked the chicken's genetic code, a development that could aid in the fight against avian flu. The researchers assembled the genome of the Red Jungle Fowl (Gallus gallus), an ancestor of domestic chickens, and have placed the genetic sequence in a public database for use by other scientists. It is the first bird genome to be completed and includes about 1 billion base pairs of DNA, the molecules that carry genetic information necessary for the organization and functioning of most living cells.

Johns Hopkins researchers, in the largest study to date, will map the genetic code for asthma in people of African descent in hopes of better understanding why the disease and other allergy-related ailments disproportionately afflict that population. Until now, the link between genetics and asthma has been studied using mostly men and women of white European descent. The Hopkins researchers announced Thursday that they will leverage data from other genome projects to take the first wide-scale look at how hereditary factors affect African-Americans who have the disease, which causes wheezing and difficulty breathing, and which can lead to death if not treated.

Johns Hopkins researchers, in the largest study to date, will map the genetic code for asthma in people of African descent in hopes of better understanding why the disease and other allergy-related ailments disproportionately afflict that population. Until now, the link between genetics and asthma has been studied using mostly men and women of white European descent. The Hopkins researchers announced Thursday that they will leverage data from other genome projects to take the first wide-scale look at how hereditary factors affect African-Americans who have the disease, which causes wheezing and difficulty breathing, and which can lead to death if not treated.

Your editorial opined "Election by council district makes a lot of sense, and should go a long way toward making the board more diverse in its racial and ethnic makeup. While no Howard council district has a 'minority majority,' at least two of them can claim significant minority populations. " Please inform your readers what the "right" makeup is for a board to improve its "racial and ethnic makeup. " Please explain how melanin, skin pigment or ethnicity makes one qualified to represent another person with a similar genetic code.

University of Maryland researchers have mapped the genetic codes for all known strains of the virus that causes the common cold, according to a study published yesterday in the journal Science. Understanding the genetic makeup of the virus could offer scientists clues on how to fight the common cold and possibly discover a cure, scientists said. "There is real promise now, based on full understanding of this virus, that we have never had before," said Dr. Stephen B. Liggett, director of the cardiopulmonary genomics program at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.

IN THE MIDST OF COMMISsioning my self-portrait a few weeks ago, I gave my chin a few tentative pokes. No, I wasn't vainly trying to tighten a drooping jowl or practicing which pose might render my appearance with suitable gravitas. Rather, as I probed the inside of my mouth with a swab the size of a small lollipop, I was harvesting cheek cells that contain deoxyribonucleic acid for what will eventually become a painting of my DNA. Earlier, I'd learned of dna11.com, a company based in Ottawa that has "From life comes art" as its marketing slogan.

In a step that could lead to new ways of detecting and treating cancer, Johns Hopkins researchers reported yesterday that they had deciphered the genetic code of breast and colon tumors. The discovery, described in the online version of the journal Science, is the first time anyone has spelled out the complete genetic makeup - or genome - of a human cancer. In doing so, the scientists identified close to 200 genes whose mutations play a role in the formation and spread of the disease. Dr. Bert Vogelstein, one of three Hopkins University researchers who spearheaded the effort, said the discovery gives cancer researchers precise targets for new drugs and screening tests.

PHILADELPHIA -- As we branched off from each other on the evolutionary tree, our ancestors look to have made a messy break from those of chimpanzees. By comparing samples of chimp, gorilla and human DNA, scientists from MIT and Harvard say they see possible evidence of interspecies sex. But there's a problem with this finding, say paleontologists who study human origins. The geneticists are proposing that our ancestors were still mixing it up with those of the chimps until 6 million years ago -- a time when one lineage was on all fours, the other walking upright.

Celera Genomics, the Rockville company competing with the public Human Genome Project to decipher the human genetic code, said yesterday that it expects to announce the assembly of its version of the human genome in June. That is later than J. Craig Venter, Celera president and chief scientific officer, told members of a congressional committee meeting in early April. At the time, he said the company had finished the sequencing phase of its effort and would complete the assembly phase within three to six weeks.

Dr. Maclyn McCarty, 93, a pioneer in genetic research who helped demonstrate that genes are composed of DNA, died Sunday in New York City. With Dr. Oswald Avery and Dr. Colin MacLeod, he conducted experiments in the 1940s on pneumococcus that pinpointed DNA as the carrier of genetic information. The team's work paved the way for studies a decade later by Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis Crick that revealed DNA's double helix structure, and for countless genetic studies since. Dr. McCarty won the $100,000 Wolf Prize in medicine in 1990.

CHICAGO -- Using a newly discovered key to secrets of the genetic code, an international team of more than 200 scientists reported yesterday that they are on the threshold of finding the genetic variations that make one person different than another, and what in their makeup makes them prone to a particular illness. Researchers expect that for the first time they will have the power to pinpoint the elusive genetic basis of disease - why some people get sick while others don't - and why some people are more susceptible to environmental toxins than others, they reported in the British journal Nature.

The list reads like a Who's Who of the animals that keep us company or help us earn a living: the dog, the cat, the chicken, the horse, the cow, the mouse, the rat, the rabbit and the elephant. At great public expense, all have had their genomes sequenced -- their DNA has been sliced and diced into genetic building blocks to help scientists discover more about humans and the ailments that trouble them. But when researchers announced the latest addition to the genome list last week, it made national headlines, thanks to the nature of the beast -- our closest living relative, the chimpanzee.