With Environmental DNA, Small Water Samples Can Find Really Big Animals

In an article posted by SciTechDaily, a team of scientists from California State University (CUNY), the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), and Columbia University used an emerging genetic tool to detect whales and dolphins in the New York Bight. This technique searched for environmental DNA (eDNA), or trace amounts of genetic material left behind by wildlife in the water. The results of this study were published in the journal Frontiers.

The scientists said that eDNA can be used to support other efforts to locate whales and dolphins, such as visual observations and acoustic monitoring. According to the study’s lead author, Dr. Elizabeth Alter, “Determining how cetaceans and other threatened marine animals use coastal habitats is critical to their effective conservation. By generating eDNA data in parallel with survey data, it will be possible to gain a clearer understanding of how this tool can be used in management…”

This technique also detected baitfish present in the area preyed on by whales and dolphins in addition to finding the mammals themselves. The authors claim that in the future, as technology improves, this technique could eventually be used to identify individual animals. Because eDNA drops to lower levels over time, the authors also state that additional research is needed to better understand how behavior and oceanic conditions contribute to the longevity of eDNA signals.

Though there are some signs of promising recovery for many whale populations, whales continue to face a range of modern-day threats such as ship strikes, ocean noise, entanglement with nets, and a general loss of habitat. For example, there are currently plans to scale up massive renewable energy projects to meet energy demands in the United States, including a wind energy auction for more than 488,000 acres in the New York Bight. The use of emerging techniques such as eDNA can provide a new perspective on the current status of whale populations and their prey in and around lease areas as offshore wind operations scale up along the east coast. The WCS has also extended these eDNA techniques to detect critically endangered wildlife such as Swinhoe’s softshell turtle, in the Bolivian Amazon, and in some of the most rugged areas on the planet including Mt. Everest.

Related article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/grrlscientist/2018/05/18/the-power-of-environmental-dna-for-monitoring-whales/?sh=64ccf93f264c

New DNA Tool

According to Science Daily, a new DNA tool can accurately predict people's height and could potentially assess risk for serious illnesses, such as heart disease and cancer. It first started out with studies being done in Michigan State University, where computers were used to read people's height and bone density. The reading of bone density was not entirely to point, but it showed accurate readings of other things, such as diseases.

The advanced algorithm is able to look at the genetic make up and height of each person. The computer learns from each person and ultimately produces a predictor that can determine how tall they are from their genome alone. The computer system is currently being worked on in order to advance and accurately interpret genetic traits and diseases. 

This new technological advance can help many doctors identify a better way to read and predict illnesses. A genomic test using this algorithm can be as simple as a cheek swab, with efficient cost as low as $50. I believe that this is a better advancement into technology, where doctors are going to have a better hands on exposure to patients health. 

Genetic Screening Tool Identifies How the Flu Infiltrates Cells

Han and Balaji Manicassamy, PhD, associate teacher of microbiology at UChicago and senior creator of the examination, utilized CRISPR/Cas9 quality altering devices that enable researchers to specifically thump out, or kill, particular qualities. They made a library of adjusted human epithelial lung cells, the cells that line the aviation routes and are the first to be tainted by the influenza infection. Every cell was feeling the loss of an alternate quality, making about 19,000 diverse hereditary varieties of the cell. 

Scientists at the University of Chicago have built up a hereditary screening device that recognized two key factors that enable the flu infection to contaminate human lung cells. The method utilizes new quality altering instruments to make a library of adjusted cells, each missing an alternate quality, enabling researchers to see which changes affect their reaction to influenza. This thus could distinguish potential focuses for antiviral medications.


The scientists at that point presented the cells to the H5N1 influenza strain, a sort of flu An infection usually known as the winged animal influenza. On the off chance that the infection could taint and murder one of the host cells, that implies the quality and the proteins it produces didn't assume a part in the infection's capacity to duplicate. On the off chance that the cell survived, that implies its adjusted genome by one means or another made it impervious to the infection - it was currently missing a pathway that the infection depended on to imitate and do its grimy work.

After five rounds of presenting the cells to the H5N1 infection, Han and Manicassamy were left with an arrangement of cells that were truly impervious to this season's cold virus. When they analyzed what these tough survivors had in like manner, two qualities emerged. One, SLC35A1, encodes a protein that makes a receptor for this season's cold virus on the surface of the cell. This bodes well - on the off chance that you thump out SLC35A1, there's nothing for the infection to lock onto and contaminate the host.



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Genetic Screening of Influenza Virus

     This years flu season has been very dangerous and frightening for many people. Therefore, this issue has sparked further research into the daunting influenza virus. Researchers have created a genetic screening invention that will reveal how influenza virus infects the lungs. This all began at the University of Chicago. The invention uses gene editing tools to gather a library of modified cells, each cell is missing a different gene. This technique shows scientists the way the body responds to the impact of catching influenza. This discovery could give scientists the ability to create an antiviral drug which would efficiently heal the patient. As of now there are not many medications to get rid of the flu, so it is crucial to work on this development. Researchers working on this project have performed many experiments discovering the genes that were allowing cells become resistant to the influenza virus. 

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/04/180411111115.htm  

More information about the flu virus : https://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm