Understanding Humanity through a Biological Perspective

http://opinionator.blogs.nyties.com/2013/02/24/the-riddle-of-the-human-species/

 

This article is written by Professor Edward O. Wilson, associated with Harvard University.  He writes poetically on the evolution of  biological origins of humans and humanitywith a twist.  This essay is particularly eloquent about human nature and the convergence between the sciences and humanities through the ages.  The professor states step-by-step on the mysteries of life and the sociological, genetic, and historical factors in this particular writing.  A very interesting philosophical and scientific view, which easily makes people across the spectrum think about beliefs, ideas, and history.

Effect of insufficient sleep on gene activity and health

Researchers at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Texas have shown that insufficient sleep negatively affects gene expression, thus affecting your health. The genes affected from the total sleep loss were found to regulate stress, immune, metabolism, and inflammatory responses in the body; all of which are extremely significant in students specifically. As a student ourselves, it may finally be clear to listen to our professors and get plenty of rest.



Supplemental and supportive information regarding the research can be found here as a PDF file.

Epigenetics: Cancer Development Redefined

The Scientist & The Daily Beast.

When working with thyroid cancer, Dr.Stephen Baylin discovered certain enzymes and calcitonin that worked well as a biomarker for tumor recognition. Most tumors secrete calcitonin so researchers started looking at methylation in the 1980s , since methylation is responsible for random gene expression. Methylation is simply the addition of a methyl group on the outside of the DNA. To put it simply, it’s the same information held, but different casing. What they found was that methylation was being gained in certain tumors at hundreds of chromosomal regions on different genes. Thus begun his quest to understand the pile up of DNA methylation. It took his team 10 years to figure out that these densely methylated genes code for tumor suppression. Their first discovery was the p16 gene and a nucleoside analog called 5-azacytidine which disables an enzyme that normally methylates DNA residues. By removing the enzyme, gene expression can continue. They also discovered a DNA repair gene called MLH1 that is often muffled by methylation. This methylation pins down genes that are necessary to drive cell differentiation. This keeps tumor cells impressionable. Stem cell cancer cells were found to be just as treatable with 5-azacytide than any other variation of cancer. Most other therapies do not differentiate between cells and can harm healthy ones. Baylin also worked at USC identifying the MGMT DNA repair gene , which is silenced in many cancer patients. This can lead to higher cell damage. When cancer reoccurs in patients they shown a drastic amount of genetic mutations at multiple gene sites. Cancer is such a virulent disease that if you block a single protein pathway , but if you can slow the progression of the disease, more realistic results can occur like slowing tumor growth or early detection.

Anthropological Genetics, A Link to the Ice Age

Sci Daily . By using DNA analysis, Geneticists have found new information on how Europe was repopulated after the devastating Ice Age. In Dr.Pala's article in the American Journal of Human Genetics she claims that relief came from the Near East when Europe became more settlement friendly approximately 19,000 years ago. It was once thought that the two areas of human occupation in Europe during the ice age was near northern Spain and on the Ukrainian plains. By analyzing mitochondrial DNA from Europeans from the two major lineages they concluded that they migrated to Europe much earlier than previously assumed. This early expansion allowed the population to flourish at an exponential rate. This is a growing dicipline known as archeogenetics, coined by Colin Renfrew, which uses the applications of molecular population genetics to study the human past. This can involved DNA recovered from archaeological remains, DNA from modern populations , and statistical methods. This topic can trace its roots to the study of human blood groups from the realization that the class genetic marker provides data on the relationships between linguistic and ethnic groupings.  Some trace genetic ancestry using a method called rolloff. This platform compares the size and composition of stretches of DNA between two human populations as a means of estimating when they mixed. The smaller and more broken up the DNA segments, the older the date of mixture. With this, ancient DNA is needed.

Scientists Use Worms to Unearth Cancer Drug Targets

In August of 2012, Science Daily posted that a new discovery done by Wyoming scientists that could have an impact on how we try and treat cancer.  Using small nematode worms, several genes were discovered that may be potential drug target for cancer.  Inhibiting these gene could reverse some key characteristics in cancer cells.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide," said David S. Fay, Ph.D., a researcher involved in the work from the Molecular Biology Department at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. "We hope that by carrying out basic genetic research on one of the most widely implicated human cancer genes, that we can contribute to the arsenal of diverse therapeutic approaches used to treat and cure many types of cancer.

Dr. Fay and his colleagues used a strain of nematode worms that carried a mutation in a gene similar to one that is inactivated in many human cancers. This gene is thought to carry out tumor progression, cell growth, and survival.  The researchers systematically inactivated other individual genes in the genome of the mutant gene in the worms.  As they deactivated various genes, scientists identified those that led to a reversal of defects caused by the loss of the mutant gene, suggesting that they could be used as targets for anti-cancer therapies.  Here is some more information about Dr. Fay's.

Diabetes Cured in Dogs by Gene Therapy

News Article CLICK HERE

Researchers at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona have found a way to completely cure type 1 diabetes in dogs with a single session of gene therapy. Curing diabetes in mice has been successful for some time now. But, this is the first time that anyone cured Type I Diabetes in a large animal. The next step would be applying this gene therapy to humans. Diabetes contributed to a total of 231,404 deaths in 2007. Over 25 million people in the US have diabetes, which accounts for over 8% of the country's population.

Can Cancer Be Turned Against Itself?

Thanks to the work of Professor Yoel Kloog and his colleagues at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Neurology, it seems that a small group of proteins, oncogenic Ras, contributes to human cancers. They may also be able to alert our immune system to their presence.

Ras is a protein that promotes cell division when a growth factor is present on the cell surface. In cellular division, mutated Ras can be detected in one-third of all tumors and contribute to human cancers.

Researchers have shown the transfer of oncogenic Ras in human cells from melanoma cells to T cells allows the immune cells to fight/develop cytokinesis, signal molecules, and kill the melanoma cells. The immune system will kill some cancerous cells. When the disease becomes dangerous, the immune system cannot keep cancer cells in balance.

 

Buffering Against Alcohol

http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/34407/title/Buffering-Against-Alcohol



A group has discovered a way to lower blood alcohol levels in mice. A new technique is used to assemble multiple enzymes that break down the alcohol in the blood stream and has also shown to reduce liver damage.

When they fed mice a diet of alcohol and the nanocomplex (AOx–Cat), they found that blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was reduced by 10 percent at 45 minutes, by 32 percent after an hour and a half, and 37 percent after 3 hours, compared with significantly smaller reductions in mice fed alcohol and just one of the enzymes, with or without a polymer shell.

But the alcohol oxidation process produces a toxic intermediate called acetaldehyde. They believe that with this new technique of assembling and containing multiple enzymes they could break down the acetaldehyde.



Imagine if everyone could be drunk on New Year's Eve, take a tablet and be sober in under 2 hours and drive home? Sounds good to me. Bars could sell them. You close out your tab at the end of a long night, pop a pill, hang out for a bit and drive away DUI free.

Don't Take Away Our Coffee!

If you are like myself or the majority of other college students, you need your coffee to start your day. Unfortunately, the coffee industry is expected to see a massive (almost 50% reduction) in their harvested coffee plants during this upcoming 2013-2014 season due to a new fungus outbreak. This orange fungus, commonly referred to as "coffee rust" has been rapidly affecting coffee leaves throughout Mexico and Central America and inabling photosynthetic growth.

"When the fungus enters pores on the basis of leaves, it consumes tissue until the leaves die, and occasionally fall off."

Coupled with the humidity of global warming, scientists are also attributing this outbreak to increased systematic use of fungicides and pesticides, creating resistant mutations of new fungi. In addition, new rainfall patterns are becoming culprits. Rather than heavy storms that can, in essence, "wash away" the emerging fungi off of leaves, these Central American areas are enduring frequent light rains that are maintaining adequate moisture levels and harboring the fungi's growth.

The course of action? Scientists are now attempting to cross breed the coffee plants with more rust-resistant strains. The crossbred flavor might not be ideal or quite the same, but improvements are in the works to be made.

For more on this topic, you can check out the following links:

http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/fighting-off-the-coffee-curse/

http://www.apsnet.org/edcenter/intropp/lessons/fungi/Basidiomycetes/Pages/CoffeeRust.aspx

East Asian Traits and the Genetic Component

NY Times & Examiner. Recent research by Joshua Akey and Dr. Kamberov shows that East Asians evolved differently from other human beings through the EDAR mutated gene. This gene is specifically responsible for the Eastern Asian characteristics of small breasts, more sweat glands, different teeth, and thicker hair. Researchers engineered a strain of mice with the same gene found in Eastern Asians. When the mice were grown, they found thicker hair shafts, additional sweat glands, and less breast tissue. Despite the promising results researchers have yet to figure out how these genes are passed down from generations. This gene causes a great degree of pleiotropy so how natural selection played a part in its prevalence is interesting. Since , by evolution standards, there can only be speculation, researchers are left to guess. Additional sweat glands provides a better mode of thermoregulation. However, East Asia is particularly cold. A more likely explanation , via sexual selection, is that East Asian men were more attracted to women with thicker hair and smaller breasts, two visible traits brought upon by EDAR.  Dr. Kamberov goes on to explain that each trait could have been adaptable at different periods of time throughout history.

To better understand recent human evolution the "Broad Team" attempts to scan the human genome. Its hard to pinpoint the genes since the scans identify large portions of the genome. Each race has its own section of unique DNA relative to things like the geographical area, cultural difference, and sheer chance. These visible variations can be found in almost every species and eventually leads to divergent evolution over a large period of time. This article is both enticing and dangerous. It can possibly feed into the idea that race is real, if interpreted incorrectly, which I'm sure it will.

Cannaboids the legal way; exercise!

David Raichlen, an anthropologist at the University of Arizona, suggests that after many years of evolution, our brains have encouraged us humans to perform high-aerobic activities, such as long distance running (Link). These activities are found to enduce a "runners high", or cannaboid chemicals in our brain.

This may explain our inherent instinct to run after animals; not only for the prize of meat, but also for the prize of this paleolithic cannaboid high, which is produced from aerobic activity. He tested his theory with various other animals and published it in The Journal of Experimental Biology; although it was not conclusive due to not enough animal testing, it may be promising in the future to understand evolutionarily how we as humans were encouraged to hunt.

Weight Loss made EASY!!

http://www.cnn.com/2013/02/10/health/mice-weight-loss-drug/index.html?hpt=he_c2

A University of Michigan study found an obscure drug that is used for canker sores, helped mice lose weight without having to limit calories or exercise.  A chocolate lovers dream come true. 

Dr. George Bray, a leading scientist in obesity and metabolism feels this is a tremendous development in anti-obesity drugs and relates it to the medication Viagra.  Viagra was originally developed to treat chest pain and later was found to help in the condition of erectile dysfunction.

   Researchers are getting ready to do clinical studies on the effectiveness that amlexanox would have on humans.  The drug used in an ointment treats canker sores, however, injected into mice it changed the action in genes that controls metabolism, and was not an appetite suppressant.

Should a safe and effective drug be found, it would be a phenomenal breakthrough in human weight loss and many diseases associated with obesity.

Endangered Turtles and the Genetics of their Sexual Behavior

NY Times & BBC. At the University of East Anglia, UK, Dr.David Richardson studies the elusive Hawksbill seaturtle and its mating habits. The female was found to take sperm from one male and fertilize multiple generations with it .This behavior of hoarding sperm is found in animals including reptiles, birds and various tortoises and terrapins. The females can store the sperm for an elongated period of time, thus the possibility of egg clutches being fertilized by multiple fathers. Dr.Richardson tested the DNA of Hawksbill hatchlings during the breeding season on Cousine Island. During their long 75-day mating seasons, the majority of their egg clutches were fathered by a single male. The males in the study did not fertilize more than one female. It came to a shock to the researchers because genetic monogamy is not nearly as common as polygamy.

These turtles tend to mate far away from shore where they search for food on the Western Indian Ocean. The study itself found a vast amount of males for females to mate with and not just a few individuals close to shore, as the scientific community once thought. This is good news since a higher degree of genetic variation ensures the future of its species. A high degree of variation means the population can bounce back from strange diseases or changes in the environment. However, this genetic superiority cannot protect them from human predators that hunt them for their shells. This endangered species are found in tropical waters around the world to lay approximately five clutches of eggs in their 75 day mating season. The DNA testing samples from the hatchlings gave researchers critical information to conclude that mating occurs far out at sea and that their numbers are steadily rising. Coupled with their decoded variability, the Hawksbill turtle is much better off than once thought.

 

 

How Rock Pigeons Got Their Mullet

From the lecture today, Dr. Barbado showed the students different types of pigeons and their unique appearances. Luckily, I came across this article and thought it would be interesting to the readers about the rock pigeon’s genome.

Shapiro (a professor of biology at the University of Utah) and his collaborators have just decoded the bird’s genome. They mainly focused on a male rock pigeon from the Danish tumbler breed and two feral pigeons.The researchers lined up the genomes of birds with and without crests, to find the difference between two groups.

The researchers said, The gene acts like a switch for head crests, keeping feathers growing downward in its normal form and upward when mutated.

The genetic results also revealed some of the pigeon's root, showing the owl breeds (a group with short beaks) likely came from the Middle East, as they showed close ties with breeds known to have originated in Syria, Lebanon and Egypt, Shapiro said.

 

 

 

Pigeons back in action

The NY Times presents an article about how pigeons are being brought back into action with genetic studies as Darwin originally did, no more pea plants or fruit flies. Scientists are following Darwin's footsteps by using birds to look into how evolution works in general. A recent  Journal of Science article brings up a whole new wave of information Darwin didn't know about; pigeon genome

Eating Your Greens Can Change the Effect of Your Genes On Heart Disease

 

 

 

 

Heart Disease predisposition genetically linked to 9p21
gene.

People identified with the genetic variants of 9p21 that is
linked to cardiovascular disease may now have some control as to their overall
health outcome. Research has shown that eating raw fruits and vegetables could
weaken the effect of this gene. Researchers at McMaster and McGill Universities
performed a large scale study on people with a high risk genotype for
cardiovascular disease. The study incorporated 27,000 individuals from five
ethnicities, European, South Asian, Chinese, Latin American and Arab. Their
study monitored these high risk genotypes individuals on the effects of eating
a diet of raw fruits and vegetables and berries and how it altered if any the
9p21 genetic marker. They compared their findings to a control low risk
genotype group and found the high risk individuals were comparable in heart
attack risk as to their low risk genotype people.

"Our research suggests there may be an important interplay between genes and diet in
cardiovascular disease," the study's lead author Dr. Ron Do, who conducted
this research as part of his PhD at McGill and is now based at the Center for
Human Genetics Research at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston,
Massachusetts. The results of their study are published in the current issue of
the journal PLoS
Medicine.

This information can be found at the following links:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/10/111011171553.htm

http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001106

Behavioral Genetics and Mice Burrow Construction

NY Times & Nature, Journal of Science. Scientists  at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at the University of Texas at Austin were trying  to understand how our genetic material can influence complex behavior displayed by both ourselves and animals. An 80 year study on deer mice , or Peromyscus polionotus, helped isolate four sections of DNA that influence mouse behavior and the structure of their burrows. Although they identified the genes, further studies are required to shed lights on what pushes them to dig further or halt excavation. In known genetic anomalies, we find that switching genetic sequences ever so slightly results in a big difference. This may also be the case in mouse behavior or even our own. Even after numerous generations of breeding in captivity deer mice will burrow deep into the ground, adding an escape tunnel. Tunnel length and engineering features were treated as qualitative properties , using foam to create a mold, and was measured as such.

The Howard Hughes team bred deer mice and old field mice, a smaller , closely related breed, and measured their descendents tunnels. Their tunnels were found to be longer than the parental generation. Then the hybrids and original short-burrow species were bred and tunnels were measured once more. This showed a cross over of characteristics, with no correlation. The team then paired the differences in tunnel features with that of their DNA. In addition to the three parts of DNA dealing with tunnel length, another was found to influence whether or not there was an escape tunnel. However, elaborate behaviors dealing with tunnel length are only thirty percent inherited with half of the DNA accounting for distinct shape. When dealing with the "escape tunnel" DNA section, when short-burrow mice contained a long-burrow DNA sequence, there was a forty percent chance that there would be an escape tunnel. Being that these are sections of DNA, their next step will be to find the specific gene and then the specific pathwa

Innovative Treatment in Lowering LDL-C Emerges

At last, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medication, Kynamro, to help treat individuals suffering with the genetically inherited disease, Homozygous Familial Hypercholesterolemia (HoFH). This condition causes astronomically high levels of one’s Low-Density Lipoprotein Cholesterol. Untreated cases report patients having levels over “1000 mg/dl” in comparison to the healthy standard of 130 mg/dl. Severe heart disease and complications are inescapable for these individuals, and heart attacks usually cause life expectancy to max out in the early 30’s. Cholesterol-reducing Statins and agonizing blood cleansing treatments have always been the standard treatment in the past.



                Thankfully, through the work of scientists at Isis Pharmaceuticals in California, there is now an alternative medication for patients struggling with this disease to try! Kynamro works as an “antisense” drug and literally inhibits a target gene, apolipoprotein B, that is responsible for cholesterol formation.  Creating a functional antisense is an extremely difficult process. It’s designed as

“snippets of synthetic DNA or RNA that bind to that messenger RNA in a way that inactivates or destroys it.”

Clinical trials have shown relatively decent results and an overall decline in HoFH patients’ LDL cholesterol levels. Although injections of Kynamro may cause influenza-like symptoms, the risk may be well worth the reward…

[I wrote this blog using the following article.]

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/30/business/fda-approves-genetic-drug-to-treat-rare-disease.html

[For more reference material about the new drug Kynamro, you can also visit the following link.]

http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm337195.htm