A New Connection Between ALS and FTLD

What we know about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), commonly called Lou Gehrig's disease, and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) is that they are both neurological disorders. This article suggests that they may arise from a similar genetic root. 

    Using 73 postmortem brain samples, scientist at MIT and the Mayo Clinic compiled gene expression patterns in 620,000 cells of 44 different cell types, and of individuals who had ALS, FTLD, or were unaffected. The pattern they noticed was that in both diseases, the cells responsible for each disorder had nearly identical expression. The study also confirmed some already present theories of the diseases, like genes we thought to be linked to them showing up in the particular gene expression of problematic cells. The last big discovery showed a pattern of a compromised blood brain barrier in the brains of people with either disease. 

    These findings are significant because it narrows down our understanding of the disease mechanisms by relating them. If we can prove they arise from thr same pathway, possibly even through the same exact genes, we can look what other similarities they have and find the root problem that the genes are causing. It could be in the neurons or the blood brain barrier, neither, or both. And of course, the more we know, the better we can treat.

Source:

https://news.mit.edu/2024/als-ftld-show-strong-molecular-overlaps-0322

Posted by: Michael Breslin

It has been known for a long time that bacteria develop resistance through gene swapping or conjugation. In addition, researchers believed that as antibiotic resistant bacteria form when antibiotics fail to kill the bacteria allowing them to mutate. However, new research done by Duke University student Lingchong You states that there is a possibility that the antibiotics were killing of the parental generation leaving the newly resistant strain to grow. Through 9 clinical tests, You's team was able to find out that the gene swapping occurred before antibiotics were introduced and continued. You them points out that there are very few proven examples where antibiotics induce resistance. This study thus proves that antibiotics do not promote the spread of resistance within bacteria. bacteria share resistances through conjugation and usually share the resistances whether antibiotics are present or not.
This study could be groundbreaking in terms of making new antibiotics. Researchers now knowing antibiotics do not normally induce resistance could possibly come up with new form of antibiotics that were previously declined based on previous data. I find this to be extremely helpful since bacteria are becoming more and more resistant while the number of antibiotics shortens almost constantly. I hope that this study can help researchers further our knowledge of how bacteria transfer DNA and create antibiotics that work for all people.


https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160411124713.htm

http://www.nature.com/articles/nmicrobiol201644

Genetics breakthrough enables scientists to edit any part of human genome, report claims

According to The Independent a  new technique, known as Crispr has been discovered in Britain. This would allow scientists to engineer parts of the human genome with precision and accuracy. Originally developed to alter the DNA of crops and livestock, it is now being looked at to treat diseases such as cancer and inherited genetic disorders. Crispr works by using an RNA guide molecule that can be programmed to match any unique DNA sequence. The molecule is attached to a special enzyme that cut both strands of the DNA double helix. After this is done the then copied DNA is inserted back inot the double helix. Then the defecrtive DNA is deleted.  

Link: 
http://www.foxnews.com/science/2013/11/07/report-genetics-breakthrough-enables-scientists-to-edit-any-part-human-genome

Related Links:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/exclusive-jawdropping-breakthrough-hailed-as-landmark-in-fight-against-hereditary-diseases-as-crispr-technique-heralds-genetic-revolution-8925295.html

http://www.genome-engineering.org/crispr/

Gene activity: spacial orientation vs. quantity of transcript molecules

Today, gene activity is studied and measured by analyzing the amount of transcript molecules within a cell. For the first time, it has been found that the spatial organization of the gene transcript molecules is more helpful in determining gene activity than is the amount of these highly specified molecules. When genes are activated within a cell, transcript molecules are produced to make the gene able to perform its specific function. These transcript molecules are also known as mRNA. There are many different types of mRNA, or transcript molecules, that can bring the information from the activated gene inside the nucleus to the cytoplasm of the cell so that the specific protein can be made. This protein is made so that the function specific to the activated gene can be completed. This breakthrough, made by the biologists from the University of Zurich under Professor Lucas Pelkmans, will help us in the comprehension of the gene activity in single cancerous tumor cells.

This project was made possible through the assistance of robots, an automated fluorescence microscope, and a supercomputer named Brutus. The robots are used to stain the transcript molecules while the fluorescent microscope causes these molecules to glow. The supercomputer, Brutus (in this case) is then used to analyze these glowing molecules. This process makes it possible to study the spatial organization of one thousand genes in ten thousand different cells at once. Being able to study the spatial organization of these transcript molecules was not possible until this point in time. With this project, it was also found that certain cells act differently depending on the gene activity and ultimately the spatial orientation within that particular cell. These biologists had expected to have seen more of an impact in the gene activity by the quantity of transcript molecules that existed but instead, they found that the spatial organization of the transcript molecules varied much more. This concept can apply to a single cell or multiple cells.

This realization was crucial because now, the individual function of genes can be determined based on the specific mRNA, or transcript molecule's spatial orientation. This can furthermore be important in cancer research because it is easier to target the genes that are malfunctioning and causing cancer to persist.

I found this experiment extremely important and interesting. For so long researchers were focused on the wrong concept of specialized transcript cells. This might have been one of the reasons why cancer research is constantly at such a stand still. Maybe with the realization that the transcript molecule's spatial orientation being more vital than the quantity of these molecules, it will be easier to find a cure for cancer. I am very hopeful that this finding will ultimately aid to ending the eternal struggle with this deadly disease as well as others.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/10/131006161357.htm
http://www.nature.com/scitable/topicpage/gene-expression-14121669