Okay, so this isn't the most important genetic discovery in the world but i think it's pretty cool. Mammals have a dormant ability to re-grow healthy tissue which may have been lost through evolution. Researchers believe that a gene called p21 holds the key to healing. They engineered mice that had that gene switched off. The scientists would surgically remove tissue and punch holes in the mice's ears, which seems cruel to me, but after just a couple weeks the mice had completely recovered and there was no evidence of injury. I think that once this is better understood it could be helpful in patients who have unsightly scars or even patient who have damaged organs.
However, in adult cells the p21 gene acts as an anti-cancer mechanism. So since this discovery is recent, scientists do not understand how switching off the p21 genes will affect the mice in the long run
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