Roosters Teach Us How the Body Fights Viruses?

The human body is always fighting off infectious diseases such as bacteria, viruses, or parasites that want to take over cells. While cells in the body my fall to these enemies and be taken over, germ cells (sperm and egg) have a unique way of fighting off these little beasties. It turns out that to protect genetic information and pass it on accurately, germ cells have what is called piRNA. PiRNA is found mostly in the testes and ovaries and protects germ cells by subduing genetic sequences of intruders. This is a cool discovery and can maybe be used to create something like piRNA that we can use as medicine to cure sickness caused by some bacteria, viruses, and parasites.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/04/170427112149.htm

https://elifesciences.org/content/6/e24695

New mechanism of inheritance could advance study of evolution, disease treatment

In recent years, it has come to our attention that genetic inheritance isn't quite as simple as crossing some punnet squares. Some genes actually have the ability to be switched off in response to environmental signals, and then be passed on through generations. This feat is known as epigenetic inheritance. Now, scientists at UMD have discovered a specific mechanism for this transfer in the roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans, one that stuck around for 25 generations. 

To do this, they tracked the production of double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) on a specific gene in the nerve cells. dsRNA has the ability to move through cells and silence matching genes. In addition to moving from somatic cell to somatic cell, they found that the protein also traveled into the germ cells and affected genes there. This allowed for the modification to be present in forthcoming generations.

I found this article very interesting mainly because of the possible impact the finding could have. If the reason for this occurrence is to adapt to environmental changes, than it is possible that evolution could be occurring at a much faster pace than previously thought. Further research on this mechanism in humans, which is a big leap, could also enhance the efficacy of RNA interference gene therapy for genetic diseases. 

Main article: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150202212449.htm
Second Article: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/scientists-discover-how-epigenetic-information-could-be-inherited