New Medication That Imitate RNA Could Help with Heart Attacks

 

New Medication That Imitate RNA Could Help with Heart Attacks

Benjamin Pruss

BIOL-2110-001 GENETICS

 Professor Guy F. Barbato

December 9th, 2025

    Recently, a new medication was created by scientists at Cedars-Sinai, called TY1, that can help repair damaged DNA. It achieves this by replicating a natural RNA molecule that boosts a gene that helps remove damaged DNA, thereby facilitating the recovery of injured tissues. This can reduce scarring and could potentially help with the recovery from heart attacks.

    The research that led to this new medication began more than twenty years ago at Johns Hopkins University. Here, they found a way to extract progenitor cells, which help in healing, from heart tissue. At Cedars-Sinai, it was discovered that these progenitor cells release small sacs, called exosomes, that contain RNA that helps in tissue repair. 

    TY1 is an engineered copy of the RNA that helps in tissue repair, found in the exosomes. It increases the number of immune cells that repair damage to DNA. The researchers also believe that TY1 could assist in autoimmune diseases, in which the immune system attacks healthy tissue.

Sources

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251205045849.htm

https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scitranslmed.adp1338

Oldest RNA extracted from wooly mammoth

     This article talks about how RNA was extracted from a juvenile wooly mammoth found frozen in Siberian permafrost. It was dated by radiocarbon putting the woolly mammoth at 40,000 years old. This is the oldest RNA ever recovered. RNA is more fragile than DNA so finding these challenges assumptions on how long RNA can survive. Unlike DNA, RNA gives a glimpse of gene activity.

    In this woolly mammoth RNA, they identified messenger RNAS that code for proteins including many involved in muscle contraction and energy. They also found non-coding RNAS like microRNAS which regulate gene activity. Some of the microRNAS carried mutations that are unique to mammoths and elephants.

    Other information they gathered from this find was that the gene expression patterns suggested the wooly mammoth's muscles were under cellular stress in its final moments. The RNA and confirming DNA also determined that the mammoth was a male, he had a Y chromosome. 

    The implication to this finding was that this shows RNA can survive much longer than previously thought under the right preservation conditions. This helps open the door for studies on gene expression in extinct species not just their DNA. And research like this can help search for ancient RNA viruses like Ice Age influence persevered in long frozen remains.

Sources:

Basilio, H. (2025, November 14). Woolly Mammoth Unlocks Reveals the world’s oldest RNA. Scientific American. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/woolly-mammoth-unlocks-reveals-the-worlds-oldest-rna/

MSN. (n.d.). https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/scientists-extract-the-oldest-rna-ever-found-revealing-how-a-woolly-mammoth-s-genes-may-have-functioned-40000-years-ago/ar-AA1QFH8g?ocid=BingNewsSerp

 Exploring RNA molecules in Ancient Woolly Mammoths

Benjamin Pruss
BIOL-2110-001 GENETICS
Professor Guy F. Barbato
November 11th, 2025

by Cyclonaut
published on 23 August 2017

    In a recently published study, DNA and RNA from several preserved woolly mammoths that were preserved in the Siberian permafrost were analyzed by Mármol-Sánchez, Dalén, and their colleagues. In a juvenile woolly mammoth that lived 40,000 years ago in the group called Yuka, the tissues were examined by the scientists. They found that there was molecular stress in the muscles of the mammoth's hind legs, as well as scratches, leading to the idea that she was trying to outrun a predator. 

    RNA, or ribonucleic acid, transmits genetic information from DNA in cells and can be used to understand what a cell was doing at a specific time. Generally, RNA breaks down very quickly after death; however, in the permafrost where Yuka was found, the RNA was preserved. 

    The scientists examined the RNA of Yuka as well as several others in an attempt to look beyond DNA, which is more commonly studied. The goal was to expand past what was previously thought to be the limits of ancient RNA analysis.

Sources

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/woolly-mammoth-ancient-rna-ice-age

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867425012310?via%3Dihub

MIT biologists discover a new type of control over RNA splicing

    MIT researchers have uncovered an interesting finding concerning RNA splicing, a critical step in gene expression. Their findings show that the m6A chemical modification, which is typically present on RNA, plays an important function in controlling splicing. The alteration specifically targets intronic regions of RNA, disrupting particular structures and allowing splicing factors to attach more effectively. This improves alternative splicing, which contributes to the creation of many proteins from a single gene.

    This discovery sheds fresh light on the control of gene expression and might have significant consequences for understanding illnesses like as cancer and genetic disorders, where splicing mistakes are widespread. By focusing on the m6A alteration, researchers may be able to design innovative therapeutics to fix these flaws, providing promise for future treatments.

New method uses DNA barcodes for high throughput RNA and protein detection in deep tissue

    Recent developments in molecular biology have enabled unprecedented detail probing of tissues and cells, but examining deep tissue structures, particularly at the RNA and protein levels, remains a difficulty. Researchers have tried to develop techniques for identifying and measuring these biomolecules in dense, complicated tissue samples. However, a revolutionary new strategy has evolved, promising more efficient and precise detection: utilizing DNA barcodes for high-throughput RNA and protein identification in deep tissue.

    This new approach, which uses DNA barcodes to identify RNA and proteins, promises to transform how scientists examine deep tissues. With its high throughput, sensitivity, and capacity to maintain tissue architecture, it offers up new avenues for studying complex biological systems. This discovery, whether for academic research or clinical applications, represents a tremendous step forward in molecular biology, bringing us closer to solving the mysteries of deep tissue biology and improving human health outcomes.

Is There DNA Present in Other Parts of Our Solar System?

 On Wednesday, January 29, 2025, The New York Times posted an article titled “Lurking Inside an Asteroid: Life’s Ingredients,” which outlined new discoveries from an asteroid collected by a NASA spacecraft. Researchers studying the debris from an asteroid named Bennu found it contained many important building blocks of life. The collection of this debris was a seven-year process using the Osiris-Rex spacecraft, which launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, in 2016 and returned to Earth in 2023. The spacecraft planned to orbit the asteroid before scientists decided where to scoop the sample from. After examination, 16 of the 20 amino acids used in our cells were found in Bennu’s debris. Additionally, the article shares that the debris contained the five nucleobases involved in protein synthesis through RNA and DNA. Although there is no confirmation of other life, the team of researchers believes that the presence of nucleobases and amino acids could have been an early ancestor of our present-day genes. The researchers do not believe there were any cells on the asteroid but do believe that the atmosphere of Bennu allowed some path toward life before it became too icy. The New York Times article ends with a quote from one of the researchers saying there is a slight chance that life started on the Bennu asteroid. 

Although the article did not directly talk about the genetics of any individual organisms, I think it was interesting to learn about where our genes may have arisen from millions of years ago. Learning that there are amino acids and nucleobases in other parts of our solar system was interesting because it begs the question of whether life exists in places other than Earth. Additionally, I think this article was a good bridge between the biodiversity & evolution and genetics courses because it demonstrates that there is still a lack of answers to some questions in biology, especially regarding the beginning of life and how our genes have evolved into the organisms we encounter today. 

Links:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/29/science/nasa-bennu-asteroid-molecules.html 

https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/09/science/nasa-launches-osiris-rex-spacecraft-to-retrieve-asteroid-pieces.html 

Gene Behind orange fur in cats found at last

 Scientists have spend more than 60 years unsuccessfully trying to find the gene that causes orange fur and the patchwork of colors in calicos and tortoiseshells. Two different studies found finally the mutation and discovered the protein that influence this mutation. Tortoiseshell and calico cats are the offspring of a black cat and an orange cat. The multicolored cats are mostly female suggesting that chromosomes X is the responsible. Female cats inherit a X chromosome from each parents but during embryonic formation cells would need only an X chromosome and will choose randomly which one to express. The other X chromosome will inactivate. So tortoiseshell fur depends on which chromosome was inactivated in difference part of the skin. Calico adds to this already particular situation the withe fur which through another genetic mechanism shut down pigment production. 

In most mammals red hair is cause by a mutation of the surface protein Mc1r that determines if melanocytes needs to produce a dark pigment or the lighter red-yellow pigment for skin and/or hair. If the protein Mc1r is less active the red or blonde hair will occur. Unfortunately this mutation didn’t seem to explain why cats had orange fur since the protein and the mutation are not located on the X chromosome. A team led from Greg Barsh, collected samples of red fur from cats fetuses and measured how the skin cells express the gene and the color by measuring the amount of RNA that each melanocyte produced. Turned out that the melanocytes from the orange cats produced 13 times more RNA from a gene called Arhgap36. The gene is located on the X chromosome which led to think that this was the responsible. The DNA sequence of the Arhgap36 protein shown not a mutation on the gene but a deletion of part of DNA that doesn’t affect directly the protein but that is involved in regulating how much it produced. Searches on genetic databases have shown that every single orange, calico and tortoiseshell cat have this particular mutation. The discovery was preprint on the server bioRxiv.

 A separate study from Japan confirmed this theory. 24 feral japan cats and 258 cat genome around the world revealed the same genetic deletion. Moreover, researchers also found that calico cats have more Arhgap36 in the orange regions compared to the black and brown ones. It has also discovered that the gene is subject to X inactivation since it silences one of the two X chromosome in females. The two team respectively found out that the increase level of Arhgap36 in melanocytes activate another way for  the cell  to produce the red pigment regardless if the MC1r is active or not. This discovery is very interesting because it is  unusual that a deletion instead of a mutation makes a gene more active rather than less. Moreover, the discovery of a new molecular pathways for hair color it was unheard and unexpected but shine a light on how complex is gene expression. This discovery also prove once again how RNA have a crucial role in controlling gene regulation and expression of different phenotypes.  

Gene switches affect different genes rather than existing as modular individual regulators.

 Groundbreaking research performed in Drosophila specimen at the university of Bonn and LMU Munich discovered that there is a certain amount of overlap in the way that gene switches work. Since most of a DNA strand are not the sequences that actually lead to the production of proteins, most of the DNA in a cell is conformed of the sequences that regulate the use and expression level of these genes. The research presented basically indicates that there is overlap between the gene sequences that act as switches that affect different genes that directly produce proteins! This has evolutionary implications by implying that the evolution of a specific gene switch can, and will affect multiple genes at once, creating even more variation. This is particularly important for some species in embryonic development, as cells start out as pluripotent and specialize through development. These developments however, happen out of gene expression, and understanding the way that gene expression functions can vary can lead to many different outcomes of the pluripotency.

I find this interesting and groundbreaking, though I will admit I cannot fully grasp it or get my head around it. I think the idea that we have the same gene activators for different gene expressions scares me more than it impresses me. Although it would not happen that way, what if multiple sequences that I need at the same time decide to not continue functioning and a different thing in my cells that needs to happen just stops? That’s just taking microbiology to a macro level though. Definitely some extremely interesting work.

https://phys.org/news/2024-10-insight-gene-naive-state-pluripotent.html#google_vignette

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-gene-results-extensive-regions-dna.html

Rice, rice, and more rice, a sustainable future ahead of us.

 Researchers from UC Davis in 2019 found that, by activating the gene BBM1 in rice egg cells, it could switch on the ability of a fertilized egg o form an embryo, basically, creating a clonal hybrid without the need for fertilization that provide a high yield of the crop consistently. This method only worked about 30% of the time. That is until collaborators from UC Berkeley’s innovative genomics institute discovered that, by activating the WOX9A gene, the success rate increases to around 90%. It is a remarkable discovery that provides us the great benefits of hybrid rice strains without the need for creating the hybrid and buying an extra seed of seed every year. “In a world where resources are increasingly limited it provides a path forward for sustainable agriculture for rice farmers, and in the future, for other crops as well”.

According to the original research from the UC Davis staff, there are about 400 species of wil plants that can produce viable seeds without fertilization. They are called apomixis, but this process did not seem to have evolved in commercial crops. The gene BBM1, that belongs to a family of plant genes called “Baby Boom” or BBM, is expressed in sperm cells but not in eggs. They argue that BBM1 switches on the ability of a fertilized egg to form an embryo. The researchers first used gene editing to cut the ability of the plants to go through meiosis, meaning that the egg cells formed by mitosis, inheriting a full set of diploid chromosomes from the mother, then they caused these egg cells to express BBM1, which would not happen without fertilization. “so, we have a diploid egg cell with the ability to make an embryo, and that grows into a clonal seed”.

I fall short of words to express how much I enjoy the continuous development of this research. As a fellow rice enthusiast, and as someone with a conscience that can understand the need for sustainable agriculture in a world that likes to overproduce, methods like these can provide affordable sustenance options for folks all over the world. Rice has kept many different cultures alive and thriving for hundreds of years, and I am so glad that the trend does not seem to stop.

https://phys.org/news/2018-12-rice-clones-seed.html

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-biologists-genes-trigger-embryo-formation.html

Aging in bacteria

 The evolutionary Demography research group at Freie Universitat Berlin studied the differences in the aging process in different samples of E. coli across more than 100 generations, with genetically identical bacteria and identical environment. They discovered a difference in the aging process of these bacteria and found that the aging process from mother to daughter cell. The study found a specific pole at the end of the rod shaped bacteria that got darker as the bacteria aged, meaning that the organism produced less proteins over time, but this behavior did not necessarily take place in the daughter cells, or the cells surrounding it in the same environment, meaning that these E. coli groups have different individualistic aging processes.

An article for the American Society for Microbiology pivots this topic in a different direction, showing that E. coli age in a different way by losing symmetry during multiple instances of binary fission. Showing that parent cells have a tendency to perform the essential reproductive functions over many different generations in comparison to the daughter cells. Eventually, leading for different kinds of mutations that make them die off, but also increasing population fitness.

I think that understanding the process of aging in bacteria is tremendously important when we attempt to understand the way that microbial communities and bacterial communities exist and distribute themselves throughout different periods of time. Do communities that exist in semiaquatic systems age and disappear because of the way they function? Just some thoughts that come into my head. I don’t know if understanding bacterial aging is as helpful to understanding human aging since they are functionally different, understanding stress factors and the way that both kinds of organisms are affected by it is a different kind of question. Overall nice findings and it is very interesting to know that there are scientists studying and reproducing these groundbreaking experiments with simple set ups but objective observations.

https://asm.org/articles/2024/september/do-bacteria-age

https://phys.org/news/2024-11-unexpected-differences-genetically-identical-bacteria.html

The Black Chafer Beetle Likes to Take Every Other Day Off, Must Be Nice.

Many animals including ourselves follow a 24 hours cycle of gene expression. It aligns with daytime and nighttime cycles and allows most animals to specialize certain tasks at certain times of day; hunting at night, waking at dawn, etc. A new study in current biology discusses the black chafer beetle, and it's odd 48-hour rhythm.

These beetles hide in ground during daytime and emerge at night, but only every other night when they search for food and a mate. This schedule was found to be driven by both sexes through a complimentary mechanism. Every 48 hours the females have a boost in pheromone production. By observing the male beetles RNA, it was possible to discover that production of an odor receptor compatible with this pheromone also spikes every 48 hours.

It is interesting to know this is the only example of a "double-time" circadian rhythm in an animal that we've observed thus far. Although this does not compare to the 17 year hibernation of some cicaida's.

https://biology.ucdavis.edu/news/beetle-date-night-comes-every-other-day#:~:text=A%20new%20study%2C%20published%20Jan,release%20pheromones%20to%20attract%20males.

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unraveling-the-secrets-of-this-weird-beetles-48-hour-clock/

Posted by Michael Breslin