String DB

RAS, RAF, MEK, MAPK... or something like that. That's what I remember as being the chain of gene activation to activate an oncogene leading to cancer (P53 getting its ass kicked) . No I can't remember the details but these activation/interactions form a tree of what gene up or downregulates the function of another and it's quite a complicated part of genetics and bioinformatics. But I found a website recently that I hadn't seen before and thought of sharing it because apart from getting a nice little description of what the gene does in different species, it has nice spider diagrams like this showing gene relationships:

http://string-db.org/
A search example, PAX6: http://string-db.org/newstring_cgi/show_network_section.pl?caller_identity=expasy_api&identifier=pax6
If you click continue at the bottom of that page you see the diagram.

Transgenes found in wild corn!

Everyone guessed this was going to happen eventually...

http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg20126964.200-transgenes-did-escape-into-the-wild-from-gm-farms.html?DCMP=NLC-nletter&nsref=mg20126964.200

NOW it's official: genes from genetically modified corn have escaped into wild varieties in rural Mexico. A new study resolves a long-running controversy over the spread of GM genes and suggests that detecting such escapes may be tougher than previously thought.

In 2001, when biologists David Quist and Ignacio Chapela reported finding transgenes from GM corn in traditional varieties in Oaxaca, Mexico, they faced a barrage of criticism over their techniques. Nature, which had published the research, eventually disowned their paper, while a second study by different researchers failed to back up their findings.

But now, Elena Alvarez-Buylla of the National Autonomous University in Mexico City and her team have backed Quist and Chapela's claim. They found transgenes in about 1 per cent of nearly 2000 samples they took from the region (Molecular Ecology, vol 18, p 750).

"They are out there, but it's hit-and-miss," says Paul Gepts of the University of California, Davis, a co-author of the new study. The escaped transgenes are common in a few fields and absent in others, he says, so gene-monitoring efforts must sample as broadly as possible.

What's more, not every detection method - or laboratory - identified every sample containing transgenes. Monitors should use many methods to avoid false negatives, says Gepts.