R&D News

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Corn Domestication Traced Back 6,000 Years
Domestication of corn can now be traced back 6,000 to 9,000 years ago, following recent plant genetics research.

A collaboration between York University (Toronto, ON), the University of California, Irvine (Irvine, CA), the University of Missouri (Columbia, MO), the University of Wisconsin (Madison, WI) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the project involved researchers identifying the genes responsible for corn domestication.

Of the corn genome’s 59,000 total genes, approximately 1,200 were found to be preferentially selected by aboriginals thousands of years ago. Of the 700 genes the researchers studied, it was found that approximately two to four per cent contributed to important agricultural traits.

Using genomics and population genetics, the researchers were able to find many of the genetic changes that have given rise to alterations seen in corn over time.

The study was published in Science.


New Therapy Comforts Terminally Ill
Showing concern and interest in the life of a patient not only eases the patient’s mind, but can also prove beneficial for those who are near death.

Research from CancerCare Manitoba Foundation Inc. (Winnipeg, MB) investigator Dr. Harvey Chochinov, PhD shows that “dignity therapy” can increase a patient’s sense of purpose, meaning and dignity. Additionally, 47 per cent of participants stated the therapy session increased their will to live.

Designed by Chochinov, dignity therapy involves a 30- to 60-minute session between a patient and therapist, in which patients are invited to discuss issues that matter to them most, or what they want remembered about their lives. The session is recorded, and a transcript is later provided to the patients, who are also encouraged to share the transcript with family.

The study, which was funded by the Canadian Cancer Society (Toronto, ON), also found that suffering and depression were reduced among patients following these sessions.

Results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.


Genetic Instructions for Life Uncovered
Unless they’re written in another language, instructions often make building something much easier.

Researchers at the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON) have recently uncovered an important set of instructions — those for building mammalian life.

Using microarrays to analyse samples from 37 mouse tissues, the researchers lit up DNA regions that were being read by cells in various body parts such as the heart, lungs and brain, allowing the researchers to identify where a mammalian cell reads genetic information. When nearby DNA regions have similar patterns of activity, they likely belong to a gene.

One discovery that emerged from this project was that a region of the fourth chromosome contains one long gene, rather than four short genes, as was previously thought.

The findings were published in Nature Genetics.


Obesity Research Receives $2.8M in Funding
The growing problem of childhood obesity will benefit from a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CHIR) (Ottawa, ON) and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (Ottawa, ON), which recently announced more than $2.8 million in funding.

Through CIHR’s Childhood Obesity Initiative, which was launched in 2004, 13 research projects will receive funding to support various research topics.

Funding recipients include Pattie-Jean Naylor, PhD from the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC) and Heather McKay, PhD from the University of British Columbia (Vancouver, BC) who are evaluating the effectiveness of provincial dissemination of the Action Schools! BC model; as well as Dr. Laurent Legault of the Montreal Children’s Hospital (Montreal, QC) who is investigating the influence of mentorship on enhancing the physical activity behaviour and health of obese youth.


Gene Regulates Tuberculosis Development
A team of researchers from the McGill University Health Centre (Montreal, QC) have uncovered the role a specific gene plays in regulating the speed at which a patient develops tuberculosis.

Already known to play a part in other illnesses such as leprosy and rheumatoid arthritis, the gene NRAMP1 was found to have variants that controls the pace of tuberculosis development, rather than if the disease developed at all.

The researchers estimate that 90 to 95 per cent of those infected with the bacterium that causes tuberculosis can contain the infection in a dormant state, whereas only five to 10 per cent of the population actually becomes ill.

The findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.