New CRISPR technology 'knocks out' yeast genes with single-point precision

CRISPR-Cas9, Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, is a gene editing technology that has been thriving in the scientific community because of it’s multipurpose usages, efficiency and accuracy, as it can cut, alter or delete a base of a targeted gene in a DNA sequence. Researchers are using this tool to delete genes in yeast, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, to see how it affects the compound. Saccharomyces cerevisiae has about 6,000 genes and researchers want to study each gene, as an individual and combination, and are working to develop libraries of these yeast genes. Also, this could be useful to produce industrial applications like ethanol, biofuel, chemicals, lubricants, etc.

CRISPR technology is used for medical research, diagnostics and food products, and it’s an important technology, as it has been widely popular now and will be used for the future. A recent article I read that used CRISPR-Cas9 is being used to produce fruit and vegetables, to enhance with more nutrient, produce more product in a smaller area with drought stressed conditions. As a science major, it amazes me how we are always improving our limited resources on earth and to make sure that the future resources will be there for new generations. I am curious to see how researchers will use this tool to further progress it’s science usages.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180507174020.htm https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/pbi.12603

The Fight Against Malaria

In any hot and humid environment, a person can run come into contact with many flying insects, particularly with mosquitos. These pesky insects cause havoc from this bites, causing itches, and even sickness. Mosquitoes, however, have been known transmit and infect many with Malaria.

The disease, however, has been genetically identified. Scientists used piggyBac - transposon insertional mutagenesis to identify the genes that were associated with malaria. Parasites carrying malaria can now be readily identified and can potentially be treatable. Such a step can be help patients who are in dire straits when dealing with the diseases. Still, drug resistance is still a major problem, but using such a gene technique can allow for even better drug resistance and at the source. 

Link to main Article

Link to Research on Malaria Gene

Bacteria that kills off only male fruit flies

Scientist have been seeing a strange phenomenon that causes male fruit flies (Drosophila) to die. This was noticed during the 50's when they crossed two strains of the same fruit fly together only producing females. The geneticists believed it must have been from a mutation, however from further analysis it is seen now to be the cause of the endo-symbiotic bacteria Spiroplasma Poulsonii that stays inside the blood stream and later passes it onto the offspring from the oocytes. S.poulsonii is very specific in only ending of male embryos. There was no molecular mechanism that causes this yet, it was previously believed that they produce a kind of toxin (androcidin). Then Professor Bruno Lemaitre and Dr Toshiyuki Harumoto from EPFL found the gene named Spaid to encode protein that causes certain structures that localize on the X chromosome of male embryos then increasing the transcription of gene onto it. (1 &2)
Having that females have two XX chromosomes it is now understand why the males do not survive but the females are still able to. (1)
""To our knowledge, Spaid is the first bacterial effector protein identified to date that affects host cellular machinery in a sex-specific manner," says Harumoto. "And it is also, to our knowledge again, the first paper to identify an insect endosymbiont factor causing male killing. As such, we expect that it will have a big impact on the fields of symbiosis, sex determination and evolution."" (1)

references:
(1) Male Drosophila die due to bacteria
(2) paper of male killing toxin in a bacterial symbiont of drosophila

The Musicality of Genetics

When Bartolomeo Cristofori invented the first Piano in 1655, music would forever be changed. The complex hand-eye coordination and muscle memory needed to play the piano is unprecedented and takes years to master, let alone learn. It is thought that the ability to learn, play, and understand music was genetically inherited; that the musically inclined have a gene needed to play such classics such as Bach and Chopin.

Dexterity and music ability are not necessarily inherent. One study found that about 50% of a 224 sample were found to be musically inclined. They were given standard musical aptitude tests that were designed to identify musical pitch and tone. Such an ability may seem trivial, but genetically, it can be found in almost anyone ranging from complete amateurs to people who have a background in music. Several DNA sequences were actually identified from the study and were correlated with music ability. One such sequence involved the hairs within a human ear in which vibrations could ascertain different pitch and sounds. It is still not conclusive to say genetics and music are inherent, since I play multiple instruments, and my family family struggles to even understand what they hear, but some generalizations on nature rather than nurture can be made. 

Link to Main Music Article

Link to Further Research on Music Ability 

New genetic details may make roses smell like roses

An international team of researchers has discovered new genes and 22 uncharacterized steps that plants can take in the process that gives their flowers their fragrance. Because rose breeders tend to aim for plants that are more visually appealing, those plants that are known more for their fragrance have fallen off. This new paper focuses on "rosa chinensis" which is a contributor to modern hybrids and it has been found that the genes for scent and color tend to go against eachother. With this new knowledge in hand breeders can now have a better handle on trying to control the tradeoffs that occur when breeding for specifically showy colors in roses.

I find this interesting but also funny at the same time that a genetic fix has been discovered to make roses.... smell like.... roses. And that the initial reason for these same roses losing their original scent was because of crossbreeding(genetics). I wonder if this will be something that is done for other flowers, fruits, or vegetables that may have lost certain characteristics due to continuous cross-breeding.

Link: https://www.sciencenews.org/article/roses-scent-genetics-fragrance

2nd Link: https://www.zmescience.com/science/rose-genome-sequenced-30042018/

Are Turkish People Really Turkish?

In early 2018, the country of Turkey released its ever so tightly kept population register, dating back to Ottoman times with ancestry records going back as far as 1882. Much to their surprise, the Turkish citizens found that the government emphasis on being a “pure Turk”, was not true. Many are now finding that their ancestry ranges from Kurdish descent, to western European. A lot of the Ottoman Armenian citizens were killed in forced deportation in 1915, thus destroying a lot of the gene pool in the process. For years, the Ottomans worked off the millet system, in which different racial/religious groups (Muslims, Catholics, Greek Orthodox, and Jews) could not interact and produce offspring with one another. This caused a giant drop in genetic diversity. To combat this, they put into effect a population exchange in 1923, having 1.2 million Greeks in Turkey, and 300,000 Turks in Greece causing an exchange in genes between the two countries when producing offspring.

By releasing this information and making it public, the Turkish government has ended that prior thought that the Turkish ancestry was “pure”. These public articles are not to remind the Turks that their ancestry is not pure and that their lineage is also not pure, but to remind them to embrace their new profound culture and have pride in their newly discovered gene pool that they might have.

This article was a good read. It shows how life is not as always as it seems. In the case of the Turks, it’s a good example of genetic drift and cultural diversity in how different people from different cultures interconnect to produce offspring with a high genetic diversity.

(Link to related article)

Gray hair linked to immune system activity and viral infection

Researchers at the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB), have discovered a connection between the gene that codes for hair color and the gene that tells our body we have a pathogenic infection. Melanocyte stem cells are what drive the pigmentation in your skin, eyes and hair, so if someone were suddenly getting a lot of gray hair, it would be because there is an error with the melanocyte stem cells. A transcription factor was discovered to help keep the melanocyte stem cells regulated and the interferon response in place. The transcription factor is called MITF, and if by chance the MITF factor tries to fix an interferon response and cannot accomplish the job, then the pigmentation is lost since the MITF cannot regulate the melanocyte stem cells and the hair becomes gray.

With this conclusion, it was revealed that genes that works to maintain pigmentation also serve to the immune system and any potential infections that could occur to attack the host. In my opinion, the future of this research finding could go in so many different directions, potentially the connection among the pigmentation and the immune system to discover what causes pigmentation diseases, where pigment is present in patches on the skin, to see what other research could be done to possibly reverse the process of gray hair. This kind of discovery could even explain extreme cases like albinism, no pigmentation in the skin at all, and if those people also have a poor immune system, as being another approach rather than looking at the melanocytes as the only possible explanation for the disease. This could also potentially explain further why younger people are starting to see gray hairs when their melanocyte stem cells should be working and functioning properly, then MITF could figure out the problem.

For more information on this article: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503142934.htm

For more information on the research: http://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.2003648

Genetic Engineering Turns a Common Plant into a Cancer Fighter

     Researchers report that they’ve engineered a common laboratory plant to produce the starting material for a potent chemotherapy drug originally harvested from an endangered Himalayan plant. The new work could ensure an abundant supply of the anticancer drug and make it easier for chemists to tweak the compound to come up with safer and more effective versions.

Throughout history, people have relied on plants for medicines. Even modern drugmakers get about half their new drugs from plants. But that’s harder to do when plants are slow growing and endangered, as is the Himalayan mayapple (Podophyllum hexandrum). The short, leafy plant was the original source of podophyllotoxin, a cytotoxic compound that’s the starting point for an anticancer drug called Etoposide. The drug has been on the U.S. market since 1983 and is used to treat dozens of different cancers, from lymphoma to lung cancer. Today, podophyllotoxin is mainly harvested from the more common American mayapple. But this plant is also slow growing, producing only small quantities of the compound.

Elizabeth Sattely and her graduate student Warren Lau reasoned that the podophyllotoxin-building proteins were likely themselves only made by the plant in response to an injury. So the pair made tiny punctures in the leaves of healthy Himalayan mayapples, testing them before and after to see which new proteins appeared around the damaged tissue. They discovered 31, which they categorized by probable function. The pair then narrowed the likely candidates for enzymes in podophyllotoxin production by focusing on members of four classes known to carry out the right types of chemical reactions. They then spliced genes for each of these enzymes into bacteria known to infect Nicotiana benthamiana, a fast-growing relative of tobacco that serves as a sort of lab rat of plant biologists. The bacteria readily infect tobacco and insert their genes into the plant tissue. Sattely and Lau inserted numerous combinations of genes for the enzymes they thought might produce their desired compound. As they report, they eventually found a group of 10 enzymes that allowed the plant to make a molecule called (-)-4’–desmethyl-epipodophyllotoxin, a direct precursor to Etoposide and a potent cancer drug in its own right.

http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/09/genetic-engineering-turns-common-plant-cancer-fighter

http://science.sciencemag.org/content/349/6253/1167

New clues to genetics of depression are 'game-changing'

     Recent research has identified 44 gene loci with significant association to depression. The analysis involved nearly 135,000 people with major forms of depression and more than 344,000 controls. And of those 44 loci found, 30 of them were new discoveries. With the other 14 having been identified in previous studies. That is roughly 70% of the loci being newly discovered. In addition to this, there was also another study done in Nature Genetics. In which they identified 153 genes and also found that depression shared six loci associated with schizophrenia. The study has been described as "a game-changer" by study co-leader Patrick F. Sullivan. The study shows that all people carry genetic variants for depression, but some people's are just higher in volume. Thus resulting in major depression. 

     There were a number of other findings in this study. Including ways to improve therapies because known antidepressant medications were enriched in the genetic findings. The researchers also found that the genetic basis of depression had overlaps with other psychiatric disorders such as bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The basis also has overlaps with obesity, daytime sleepiness, insomnia and tiredness. I believe this is important in today's society as depression as become somewhat of a 'silent killer' in the United States. As depression usually leads to suicide. Reducing the affects of depression could save a lot of lives. 

Article Link: https://www.futurity.org/44-genomic-variants-depression-1741752-2/

Nature Genetics study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-018-0090-3

A Link Bewteen Genetics and Social Behavior in Chickens

A recent study in Sweden linked five chicken genes to the animal's social behavior. To perform the experiment the team used chickens which were a cross of domesticated chicken and red jungle fowl (the ancestor of modern day chickens). This gave the birds a wider range of behaviors.
The study placed a group of birds in a new habitat and observed their tendency to either explore the new area or seek out other chickens. Gene expression in the hypothalamus was also measured. Five genes were identified to influence the sociality and gene expression observed. The genes had already been associated with influencing behavior or the nervous system. Social behaviors are very complex, and although we can assume that they are influenced by genetics to be able to pinpoint what specific genes have influence is fascinating.

Link to Article- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503101714.htm

Original Paper-http://www.genetics.org/content/209/1/209

Are Migraines Genetic?

 
   

    A recent study was conducted to see whether or not certain migraine types are genetically passed down.  A lot of the time members of the same family all get the same migraines.  Previous research discovered that CACNA1A, ATP1A2, and SCN1A are genes that associated with a migraine and are inherited.  Another way they have been discovered to be inherited is that a migraine is polygenic. For this study they wanted to test what of the two or if both caused the migraines.
   
    In this study they discovered that the polygenic way was the answer. This means that more than one set of genes of causes the migraines in all the individuals in a family. This discovery can help to further develop drugs to help sufferers get treated for their migraine symptoms.

  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180503142926.htm

NIH Plan to Enroll 1 million for Health Database

The National Institutes of Health is planning to enroll 1 million people for a database of genetics, lifestyles, and environmental conditions relating to health. The agency’s “All of Us” program, which will open for volunteer signup on Sunday (May 6), will provide an important tool in the development of treatment and prevention strategies for various diseases, health officials say. The project has secured $1.45 billion in funding for the next decade, and has already enrolled 25,000 participants as part of a pilot run last year. People will first share electronic health records, blood samples, and information about their lifestyles. Later in the year, researchers will start administering tests for particular genetic variants that may be related to disease risk. While no database is 100 percent secure, the data will be carefully protected, the project’s director, Eric Dishman, explains. The agency has invited hackers to try to breach the database, he adds, as a way to better develop privacy measures. However, lawyer Tiffany Li of Yale Law School expresses skepticism that the data could be shielded from access by law enforcement in all cases. “I would argue that there probably is some way to access the data,”.
I think this is so cool it is really amazing to be alive at a time when genetics is becoming so widespread. This should really have wide reaching implications if done correctly and provide tons of data on both genetics as well as different lifestyle choices and how they affect us. I think the scope of this is just a start to I'm sure more and more people will continue to do this after the one million target has time to be situated. However, the security of this data is beyond important, sadly it is a concern that insurance companies could get their hands on it. Lets just hope for universal health care before thats a concern but thats a topic for a different type of discussion. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nih-seeks-health-data-of-1-million-people-with-genetic-privacy-suddenly-an-issue/2018/05/01/cb38a588-4d4b-11e8-b725-92c89fe3ca4c_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.d5ce0f1092a5

https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/52481/title/NIH-Plans-to-Enroll-1-Million-People-for-Health-Database/

The Battle over Gene-Edited Food

Since the 1980s when Genetically modified foods were introduced, there has been controversy and according to a study showing that 39% of people believe that genetically modified foods are less healthy that non-GMO foods, even though the World Health Organization (WHO) and the FDA have stated that they are safe and have had many global benefits such as increased food production. Originally, GMO crops have had genes from outside organisms, such as fish genes in strawberries, or other genes such as an added resistance to pesticides. However, due to advances in gene-editing technology, scientists can now change the cut and change the DNA sequence of crops and have been working on making drought-resistant corn, reduced-gluten wheat, and tomatoes with easy to remove stems.
Opponents of CRISPR technology such as the Non-GMO project, believe that even though this new type of GMO doesn't contain foreign genes, it is still unnatural because the Cas9 protein that cuts the DNA is from bacteria. Currently, the USDA does not plan to regulate gene edited crops the way they do with crops using genes aside from their own which means it will be faster and cheaper to get these new gene edited crops to the market.

Article: Is This Tomato Engineered? Inside the Coming Battle Over Gene-Edited Food
Related: What are genome editing and CRISPR-Cas9?

Can't sleep? Could be down to genetics

    

          Just recently, “researchers have identified specific genes that may trigger the development of sleep problems, and have also demonstrated a genetic link between insomnia and psychiatric disorders such as depression, or physical conditions such as type 2 diabetes. Up to 20 percent of Americans and up to 50 percent of US military veterans are said to have trouble sleeping.” Many humans fare faced with insomnia and cannot fall asleep too quickly. This could also be due to stress, work-related issues, family problems, or just heath issues. Discussed in the article “… in this study, Stein’s research team conducted genome-wide association studied (GWAS). DNA sample obtained from than 33,000 soldiers participating in the Army Study To Assess Risk and Resilience in Service-members (STARRS) were analyzed.

         Data from soldiers of European, African and Latino descent were grouped separately as part of efforts to identify the influence of specific ancestral lineages. Stein and his colleagues also compared their results with those of two recent studies that used data from the UK Biobank.” (Springer, 2018). This study conducted had the conclusion that “insomnia has a partially heritable basis. The researchers also found a strong genetic link between insomnia and type 2 diabetes.” (Springer, 2018). Stein says, “The genetics correlation between insomnia disorder and other psychiatric disorders, such as major depression, and physical disorders such as type 2 diabetes suggests a shared genetic diathesis fo these commonly co-occuring phenotypes.” (Springer, 2018). 

Link to study: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180309095520.htm

Original study:  https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-018-0033-5

Springer. (2018, March 9). Can't sleep? Could be down to genetics: Large study confirms that insomnia is hereditary. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 3, 2018 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/03/180309095520.htm

Living in Colder Areas May Increase Your Chance of Migraines

Populations that live in more northern areas show a mutation in DNA that codes for TRPM 8, a protein that responds to cold sensations. A recent study has uncovered that people with this mutation have a notably higher risk of developing migraines. The mutation is obviously seen more in populations with colder climates, 88% of the population in Finland have it while only 5% of those from Nigeria do. Scientists still aren't quite sure how the mutation works or why it was developed but they do believe it may have conferred some sort of early benefit and the increased risk of migraines just happens to be a side effect of the mutation.

This article is interesting me because it shows that current Genetics is still guess work in some areas. Sure a mutation can be identified by sampling the population but determining exactly what it does or why it came about in the first place is like solving a puzzle if it is not blatantly obvious. Like TRPM 8 from the article, there is a clear environment where it is more prevalent in and it must have survived for centuries and have been important for some reason to be in such a large portion of the population but scientist still aren't sure exactly what that reason is.

Article - https://www.sciencenews.org/article/adapting-life-north-may-have-been-real-headache?mode=topic&context=88&tgt=nr

Journal - http://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1007298

A DNA Site Helped Authorities Crack the Golden State Killer Case

With the help of genetic data from databases, police were able to arrest a man suspected to be the notorious Golden State Killer. It was through the GEDmatch genetic database, which has a lot of unknown genetic information listed within it. Unlike big companies like 23andMe which has more than 5 million users, GEDmatch has between 900,000 and a million users, and those users upload and share their information for free. This makes it easy for law enforcement to use it to collect data. In this particular case, investigators used genetic databases in order to find relatives who matched genetic material taken from an old crime scene, and they went on to cross-reference family data from GEDmatch and were able to find the suspect, Joseph James DeAngelo. This case has brought the issue of genetic privacy to light, especially nowadays where genetic testing is becoming more popular and extensive. People will get there DNA tested to know of their ancestry and family history of health, but a lot of them don't consider what happens to their data after that.

Most of the big companies resist all law enforcement inquiries to protect customer privacy, but they do warn customers that there is a possibility of it. 23andMe has stated to never have given customer information to law enforcement. Although, many companies do give users control on where their data goes, whether they want to share it for research, with third parties, or with other consumers. However, databases like GEDmatch, which are open for everyone, don't have the same precautions to privacy. Although, they do inform their users that the data can be used by others for anything.

Users should always be cautious when using sites like these, even the ones who claim privacy.
Customers should be critical when reading privacy policies and understand how genetic data can be shared with third parties, especially when it's an open-source database. There is a lot of potential for abuse of genetic material exists, so it's important to be cautious about putting your genetic data onto the internet.

Article: http://time.com/5257474/golden-state-killer-genetic-privacy-concerns/

Preventing Honeybees from Becoming Queen

An article done by the New York Times reviews certain factors on how to stop honeybees from becoming queens. Researchers from PLOS Genetics found that certain molecules in the pollen of flowers and in honey will determine if females will be able to reproduce and live a longer life, or if they will become sterile and a worker bee. These conditions are directly linked to their diet, and not determined at birth like many would think. MicroRNA is contained within the small molecules of the plants which affect plant size and color. This microRNA, when transferred to a bee can affect genes and inhibit growth to the bee, making the bee sterile. In an experiment done by Nanjing University in China, researchers raised honeybees to better understand the microRNA effects to their growth. In larva raised on the microRNA contained diet, it was found that the bee population had smaller bodies and smaller ovaries than those raised on a diet not containing the microRNA. Researchers found that the TOR gene for growth is affected when the microRNA is ingested.

Scientists also studied the interdependence between the honeybees and the plants. Through honeybee pollination, certain flowers can become larger and more colorful thus attracting more bees creating a larger pollen spread. Researchers also suggest that further study of this interdependence can be applied to areas like therapeutic research for applications in cancer or obtain a better understanding on seasonal allergies and anaphylaxis.

This article in my opinion was very informative. The honeybee population is on a steady decline which should be a major concern for everyone. Without the honeybee population, many plants would not be pollinated. Therapeutic research through these interdependencies of plant and insect is also an interesting field to study.

(Link to a related study)

Genetics Testing in the Work Place

As our medical screening abilities become more comprehensive so too, it would seem, does our potential health care benefits. According to the New York Times article Employees Jump at Genetic Testing. Is That a Good Thing? By Natacha Singer, companies all across nation, like Visa, General Electric, Levi’s, and many more, have started including genetic screening as part of their company health care programs. Ideally this is to make it possible for employees to see if they have any genetic/heritable predisposition to a disease so that they may be able to take preventable measures/medical counseling earlier before they are affected, when costs of dealing with ailments are cheaper. And yes, these screening are both novel and optional.

Yet while in theory this addition to company health benefits would improve costs and employee health there are many other concerns around its application in the work place. The main concern being that participants might take the results of these genetic tests, which are by no means 100% accurate, too literally and look at them as a diagnosis, not realizing that they just show potential increased or decreased probability. This intern could cause participants to take drastic or unnecessary health precautions and/or procedures that end up doing patients more physical and financial harm than good, and vice versa the genetic results could give patients a false sense of security if they come up negative, resulting in them not taking the standard recommended medical screenings. Yet, as this new benefit enters the work place we will begin to see if it does more harm than good, as it is way to early to tell, but if in know people then I think this will probably end in an influx of unnecessary procedures and panic, as most people are not that educated on this subject. 

For the original article go to https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/technology/genetic-testing-employee-benefit.html

For more on genetic screening/testing check this link out https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/primer/testing/genetictesting

DNA tests linked to IQ

New gene studies have allowed genetic researchers to discover more than 500 genes they believe can be tied to IQ test results. These studies involve over 200,000 test takers and there are impending results coming out soon in another experiment involving one million people's DNA tied to their academic success. A concept called precision education involves a DNA IQ test that will allow parents to purchases tests themselves through retail that they can than use to test their children and forecast their academic success. At the current moment the variations among these tests have explained less than 10% of the difference in intelligence between the people of European ancestry who have been studied. There are at least 3 online testing services that are already offering to quantify a person's genetic IQ.

I think this is interesting, however I am cautious to give it a ton of merit until more studies follow with similar or stronger results. If this is a plausible concept it would certainly be beneficial to the  parents who are the type of people that want to know every little thing about their child so that they can plan accordingly. As a future educator I do not believe that there is much here that should be used in deciding what type of classroom or learning environment a student belongs in. I think it is very dangerous to forecast what type of student or how smart a child will be. Genetics may offer an early advantage to some people, but that is only a small head start, the vast majority of what makes up a person's personality and intelligence has a lot to do with the environment they are in while in their early developmental stages. So cool concept, may turn out to be plausible and a tool parents can use if they want, but I don't think there is any place for this in schools.

P.S.- Hoping some fool does not try to turn this science into race like we discussed earlier in the semester.

Article:https://www.technologyreview.com/s/610339/dna-tests-for-iq-are-coming-but-it-might-not-be-smart-to-take-one/

2nd Article: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2163484-found-more-than-500-genes-that-are-linked-to-intelligence/

Genetic Roadmap to building an entire organism from a single cell

Researchers at Harvard Medical School recently made a breakthrough that potentially could change the future of medicine techniques all together. The one struggle all biologists had, was a complete understanding of the cell process and how each cell creates and makes new cells. The researchers have done a long-term research on this topic of understanding the cell process and what how one cell becomes an organism, and can follow through what each cell does step by step. This is such an important and significant breakthrough because the knowledge behind knowing how the cells work could eventually lead to how to turn off and turn on certain signals in the cells to make the body produce more of a certain cell that codes for something like "hair production" when usually that is a cell produced more when the person is a young boy or girl, but is very much needed when the little boy and girl is an adult and is seeing nothing other than the thinning of the hair.

In my opinion this could lead to so many more studies and work, this research is by far the end of this story. So many biologists and researchers are going to want to look into this work and make sure the data is correct and true, that they do have a roadmap of the cells in the body, which ultimately would do nothing other than be helpful when it came to finding help towards diseases and infections alike.

For more information: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180426141459.htm
For more information on the study: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2018/04/25/science.aar3131

Using Genetics to Identify Foodborne Illnesses

    The most recent E coli outbreak involved Romaine lettuce from Arizona. Causing many Americans to get food poisoning. Symptoms like vomiting and hemorrhaging make this a nasty illness. Foodborne illness is a very common, yet costly public health problem according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC). An estimated 1 in every 6 Americans will develop a form of food borne illness from either food or beverage annually. And around 3,000 people die each year. This naturally would be a cause for concern. Luckily, there is a new technique that relies solely on the genetics of food. Allowing the CDC to seemingly "connect the dots" with foodborne illnesses. These "dots" represent the numerous people from different states that have the same illness. The technique involves doing whole genome sequencing from different people. Allowing scientists to observe if the illness is caused by the same germ. previously, the health department would send DNA samples to the CDC for testing. With this long process, many people would suffer the same fate if the germ was not found quickly. Now however, all 50 states are receiving federal money to construct their own labs in order to test the DNA. The new process is much shorter, with results coming in approximately 72 hours. The CDC is hoping for the labs to be able to sequence all bacteria in foodborne illnesses. Among these bacteria include Salmonella and E coli. And while this new technique did not detect the E coli in the Romaine lettuce, it was used in linking over a dozen cases across the United States. 

I believe that this is very important in today's world. I was recently sick due to bad food I had eaten at a Hibachi restaurant in my hometown. And while it was not a severe case, it was not a pleasant experience. Sequencing all bacteria in foodborne illnesses would greatly reduce the number of persons affected and lessen the number of people whom die due to simply eating.

Video: https://www.thepacker.com/article/using-genetics-identify-foodborne-illnesses
CDC and Food Safety: https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/cdc-and-food-safety.html

Diving And Genetics

A new study has found that the incredible long term diving found in the coastline communities of southeast Asia could have a genetic component that enables people to perform this feat. One such adaptation is a mutation for a larger than average spleen, which extends how long a person can wait underwater without needing air.

The study originated from the University of Utah, and included sequencing the genome of people born in two small towns in the area (one being a diving town and the other a farming community) and measuring their spleen. About 76 people participated in the study overall. During the sequencing unique mutations were found in the diving community, some having to do with the ability to stay underwater. I think its fascinating that there are people out there that have adaptations towards being able to swim for long periods of time deep underwater.

Link Article- https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/human-sea-nomads-may-have-evolved-to-be-the-worlds-elite-divers/
Link 2-http://www.peoplesoftheworld.org/text?people=Bajau

Genetics based medicine making treatments more expensive. Who will Pay?

With the growth of genetics based medicine used to treat different diseases, hospitals and health insurers are trying to figure out how to cover the costs.

These gene-based treatments alter or deliver new genes to patients but come with high prices. Two new cell therapy treatments, Novartis AG and Gilead Sciences Inc priced their cell therapy at $475,000 and $373,000 respectively. While the prices of these therapies is are already expensive, administering them can add hundreds of thousands of dollars including the cost of staying in the hospitals and other services.

Currently hospitals are not making money as payment systems aren't set up to cover treatments combining both infusion of drugs and episodes of hospital care. Because payment systems have not been set up for these new treatments, few patients have been able to receive them.


Article: The Million-Dollar Cancer Treatment: Who Will Pay?
Related: Novartis Sets a Price of $475,000 for CAR T-Cell Therapy

New Strand of DNA Discovered

       
                                                       

       Australian researchers have identified a new DNA structure called the "I-motif", inside of cells. This new structure is a twisted knot shape, which has never before been seen inside of living cells but rather has been discovered in laboratory settings. Previously, the iconic "double helix" shape of DNA has been used as an understanding to how DNA reads and codes, however it has now been discovered that short stretches of DNA can exist in these other shapes, leaving scientist to suspect the these different shapes might play an important role in how and when DNA code is read.
         The newly discovered "I-motif" shape is a four stranded knot. In the knot structure, C letters on the same strand of DNA bind to each other- whereas in a double helix opposite letters bind to each other therefore C would bind to G. As this strand of DNA has only existed within laboratory settings, there is a large debate within the science community as to weather I motifs and other stranded DNA would ever be found in living things. In the future, discoveries surrounding alternative DNA shape will allow researchers to understand the impact of DNA shape on health and disease.

 Link to original article : https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180423135054.htm
Link to study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41557-018-0046-3

CRISPR Patent Dispute

Lawyers for the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley, traded oral arguments in the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington on Monday (April 30). It is the latest round litigation of an ongoing patent dispute. The Broad Institute holds patents on the gene editing technology known as CRISPR, and attorneys for UC Berkeley have been challenging the claim for more than a year.  UC Berkeley filed a patent application based on its work with CRISPR in May 2012, and the Broad Institute followed suit in December of that year. In April 2014, the Broad Institute was granted the first of several patents for its use of CRISPR, and attorneys for UC Berkeley quickly contested it with the US Patent and Trademark Office. The Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) ruled in favor of the Broad Institute in February 2017, saying its patents present “no interference of fact,” meaning they are sufficiently distinct from those applied for by UC Berkeley that they should not be overturned. On Monday, lawyers for UC Berkeley argued that the PTAB made a “legal error” in that ruling. They argued that the appeals court should either reverse the board’s decision or send it back to the PTAB for further consideration.
This has been an ongoing legal battle for so long now. I understand that people want to make money and hold intellectual rights when it comes to new scientific discoveries. I think that the people really need to be working together more than fighting over patents. I get that everyone is not going to hold hands and sign along with each other but if you discovered anything its because you used others information to help you get smarter and if were are all working together the field of science can achieve even greater things than it has in the past. 
https://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/52473/title/CRISPR-Patent-Dispute-Heard-in-Federal-Court/
https://www.nature.com/news/bitter-crispr-patent-war-intensifies-1.22892

De Novo Mutation Gene linked to Poor Motor Skills in Autism

There are two types of genetic factors that can contribute to Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). They are inherited mutations and de novo mutations. De novo mutations do not appear in either parents` genetic makeup but are present in the child. Past research indicated that the presence of damaging de novo mutations correlated with lower non-verbal IQ. This new study found that reduced motor skills also correlates with de novo mutations in ASD. The motor skill correlation is a stronger indicator of the severity of the damage of the de novo gene than IQ. Impaired social skills and communication are hallmark traits of ASD, these traits are not linked to the presence or absence of de novo mutations. Research speculate that children who have ASD as a consequence of inherited factors have less general cognitive damage than those with de novo mutations. A possible explanation for this is that individuals with cognitive disabilities are less likely to have children, passing down their genetics. The results from this study can be a facet of clinical evaluation of patients. The near universality of poor motor skills in ASD children is an indicator that the factors that cause the core behavioral defects also cause general cognitive dysfunction. I thought this article was interesting because the general population is told that genetics are a component in ASD in the context that if ASD is in the family the child can have ASD. This study indicates that the genetic component of ASD is a result of mutations so there is less certainty to rule out the possibility of having a child with ASD. With the discovery of these de novo mutations can lead to more intense research on ASD causing genes. Topics that could be explored with this new information are which individuals are more susceptible to this mutation, what do this mutations code from, and how this mutation is caused could. Also the mechanism of the develop of ASD could be studied with a more complete understanding of the genetic component of ASD.