Soil search suggests broad roots for antibiotic resistance

Bacteria developing resistance to antibiotic drugs has become a major medical problem worldwide. Soil bacteria have genes that can fight off almost any type of antibiotic, including man-made drugs that do not occur in nature. Despite years of studying the genes that allow bacteria to fight off antibiotics, scientists still are not sure where the genes come from. Some people blame soil as the source of antibiotic-resistance genes. Soil is home to tons of microbes, including many fungi that naturally produce antibiotic compounds, so it makes sense that bacteria living in the soil would have genes that could counter that particular type of chemical warfare. In one experiment, researchers isolated DNA from from a soil sample. Then the DNA was placed into common E. coli bacteria to test if any of the DNA contained genes for antibiotic resistance. No one knows exactly where the antibiotic resistance genes seen in people actually originated.

This article emphasizes the importance of discovering the origin of the antibiotic resistance gene. It is important to understand antibiotic resistance. Antibiotics are critical in the fight against infectious disease caused by bacteria and other microbes. Treatments of many sorts continue to be complicated by the ability of bacteria to develop resistance against antibiotics. Excising the intervening antibiotic resistance gene in soil can prevent soil from developing resistance to antibiotics. Information obtained from this type of research can be used to prevent other strains of bacteria and viruses from developing resistance to medication administered in the medical field and can promote better welfare and health in the near future.

Gene Therapy Trial For Parkinson's Disease Effective In Improving Motor Function

This article discusses a clinical trial in which patients with Parkinson's Disease who were injected with the GAD (glutamic acid decarboxylase) gene improved in their motor functioning.  The GAD gene was injected directly into their brain and the enzyme produces GABA, a chemical involved in motor coordination that is low in individuals with PD.  This was a double-blind clinical trial that involved 22 individuals who received the gene therapy, and 23 individuals whom did not (control).  Improvements in motor functioning were assessed on all participants using the UPDRS (Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale) up to six months after treatment.

GAD

With further clinical trials, this form of gene therapy will hopefully improve the lives of individuals with Parkinson's disease who do not benefit from drugs.

How Plants Sort and Eliminate Genes Over Millennia.

Hybrid plants with multiple genome copies show evidence of preferential treatment of the genes from one ancient parent over the genes of the other parent, even to the point where some of the unfavored genes eventually are deleted. Previous work has shown that plant genomes with historical duplications from tens of millions of years ago have lost one of the two copies in large blocks along the chromosome, consistent with the preferential loss of one parent's contribution. The discovery of this may show a new  path of evolutionary plant biology.  The team also found that gene pairs that are co-expressed in similar tissues are preferentially expressed from the same parent. Even in the rare cases when an Arabidopsis thaliana gene was more abundantly expressed in the hybrid, co-expressed genes would also be preferentially expressed from the Arabidopsis thaliana copy.

Gonorrhea gets even more personal

Researchers at the Feinburg School of Medicine have discovered a piece of human DNA incorporated in the DNA of the human pathogen Neisseria Gonorrhoeae, the microbe responsible for the sexually transmitted infection known as Gonorrhea. When the DNA of multiple N. Gonorrhoeae was sequenced it was observed that around 11% of them contained a small fragment of human L1 DNA element. Then the researchers sequenced the DNA of very closely related Neisseria species and found no human fragments at all. 
 It is proposed that the fragment of human DNA was incorporated by a horizontal gene transfer. Which up until now were only thought to occur between like types of cells, prokaryotic or eukaryotic. Since N. Gonorrhoeae is known to reside both intracellular and extracellular it is thought by researchers that it would be able to make its way into a position in which a HGE could occur. Also, that since only 11% of the tested population showed the fragment it implies that this transfer event could have happened recently. This observation alone has many implications in evolution as well as disease and immunity research. This could be a possible mechanism in which pathogens are able to build immunities to their hosts.
 I hope these discoveries bring about more research into Horizontal Gene Transfers between bacteria and mammals, not only for the implications into evolutionary mechanisms but also as a tool to better understand the pathogens around us.

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Mutations Found in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

In this article  induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) need to go under further research before becoming used clinically. "A national team of researchers examined 22 different hiPSC lines obtained from seven research groups that employed different methods to reprogram skin cells into pluripotent stem cells. In all of these cell lines, the researchers found protein-coding point mutations, an estimated six mutations per exome. The exome is the part of the genome that contains the genetic instructions for making proteins and other gene products." They found that some mutations seem to be silent and others chaged a specific function in the protein. Even though these stem cells are new and exciting to bring into a clinic to use, researchers are still testing them to make sure they are safe to use. An assay was used to find any mutations in the strating cells of a cell line at a low frequency. They found that about half of the mutations were found in the stem cell lines. Some starting cells had rare mutations that could not be detected which could indicate that this happened after the reprogramming. Also,they found that  there were genetic damages that can occur, such as nucleotides or base pairs that can alter the protein when it under goes reprogramming.

Scientists Grow Key Memory Cells in Lab Dish

In this article  it states that researchers say that a person with Alzheimer's disease have stem cells that die early. To help restore a person's memory who were affected by this disease, there is technology that can provide a ready supply of stem cells for new drugs or transplants. This new way will help researchers find the disease in human cells rather than the genetically modified mice. These stem cells created neurons which are the parts that get lost in the disease process. "When Kessler and Bissonnette implanted the newly grown nerve cells into the brains of mice, they functioned normally, producing nerve fibers called axons and making the brain chemical acetylcholine, used to retrieve memories from other parts of the brain." Researchers are now finding ways to see the differences between healthy and diseased cells with induced pluripotent stem cells to hopfully be able to create memory cells to place in people with the disease. But for now, unfortunately there is no drug to stop the disease from progressing.

New Clue to the Genetics of Bipolar Disorder: Piccolo

This article highlighted a study in which variation in a gene that codes for the protein Piccolo was found to increase the risk of inheriting bipolar disorder.  Piccolo aids neurons in releasing neurotransmitters.  The researchers compared the postmortem cortical tissue from people who were diagnosed with bipolar disorder to tissue from people who were not and looked for different gene expression patterns.

Bipolar disorder is a devastating psychiatric disorder which really has no "cure."  Hopefully, this study will lead to more research on the genetics of bipolar disorder, which could lead to new, more effective treatments.

Not Seeing Results at the Gym? Blame Your Genes

This article discusses how our genes effect almost every aspect of our physical fitness; from the results we see in the gym, to the number of pounds we gain from overeating.  The article claims that Arnold Schwarzenegger, after one year of training, looked as good as an average person lifting for ten years simply because of the body and genes he was born with.  A study done by Hubal subjected 585 participants to twelve weeks of progressive dynamic exercise and recorded their strength and muscle mass gains.  While some saw huge improvements in both their muscle size and strength, an unlucky few actually lost muscle and saw no noticeable improvements in strength.  Further research has shown that individuals who have high expression of hypertrophy genes adapt better to strength training and thereby gain more strength and muscle then those who have low expression of hypertrophy genes.



The article also discussed how genes affect your fat storage and ability to gain or lose weight.  In the past, natural selection was in the favor of humans with slow metabolism because they would be able to survive longer when food was difficult to find.  Now these genes are leading to the rise in obesity and poor health in our society because food is now readily available and excessive caloric intake is becoming more and more common.  In a recent study twelve pairs of twins were overfed for 100 days, and the results were very surprising.  The range of weight gain was from 9.5 pounds to 29.3 pounds, and some individuals stored nearly all of it in their abdomen while others stored it evenly throughout their body.

Although this research seemingly dooms certain individuals to obesity and lackluster results at the gym, it shouldn't stop them from trying to stay fit and healthy anyway.  The article mentions that no one has perfect genes and that working hard can help even the odds of any genetic disadvantage.  You may not look like Mr. Olympia after a year, or even after ten, but working out will always yield beneficial effects.