Lifeboat Foundation

WASHINGTON: Scientists have found that people who have a variant of a longevity gene have improved brain skills such as thinking, learning and memory. Researchers found that increasing levels of the gene, called KLOTHO, in mice made them smarter, possibly by increasing the strength of connections between nerve cells in the brain.

“This could be a major step toward helping millions around the world who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,” said Dena Dubal, an assistant professor of neurology, the David A Coulter Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegeneration at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the lead author of the study published in Cell Reports. “If we could boost the brain’s ability to function, we may be able to counter dementias,” Dubal said.

People who have one copy of a variant, or form, of the KLOTHO gene, called KL-VS, tend to live longer and have lower chances of suffering a stroke whereas people who have two copies may live shorter lives and have a higher risk of stroke. In the study, researchers found that people who had one copy of the KL-VS variant performed better on a battery of cognitive tests than subjects who did not have it, regardless of age, sex or the presence of the apolipoprotein 4 gene, the main genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

A new study of the genetic history of Sardinia, a Mediterranean island off the western coast of Italy, tells how genetic ancestry on the island was relatively stable through the end of the Bronze Age, even as mainland Europe saw new ancestries arrive. The study further details how the island’s genetic ancestry became more diverse and interconnected with the Mediterranean starting in the Iron Age, as Phoenician, Punic, and eventually Roman peoples began arriving to the island.

The research, published in Nature Communications, analyzed genome-wide DNA data for 70 individuals from more than 20 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning roughly 6,000 years from the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. No previous study has used genome-wide DNA extracted from ancient remains to look at the population history of Sardinia.

“Geneticists have been studying the people of Sardinia for a long time, but we haven’t known much about their past,” said the senior author John Novembre, Ph.D., a leading computational biologist at the Univeristy of Chicago who studies genetic diversity in natural populations. “There have been clues that Sardinia has a particularly interesting genetic history, and understanding this history could also have relevance to larger questions about the peopling of the Mediterranean.”

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In addition, gene-editing technologies continue to advance in precision and ease of use, allowing families to treat and ultimately cure hundreds of inheritable genetic diseases.

This metatrend is driven by the convergence of: various biotechnologies (CRISPR, Gene Therapy), genome sequencing, and artificial intelligence.

Gene editing holds promise for the treatment of cancers that are driven by well-characterised molecular alterations. A study now provides a proof of concept for the feasibility of in vivo gene editing to correct TERT mutations in glioblastoma, providing a platform for the direct manipulation of genetic alterations to reduce tumour growth.

Today, when a deadly virus explodes out of nowhere, geneticists are indispensable players in the international game of whodunit. Here’s how they help.

The rest of the world is interested, too. Africa contains much more genetic diversity than any other continent because humans originated there. This diversity can provide insights into human evolution and common diseases. Yet fewer than 2% of the genomes that have been analysed come from Africans. A dearth of molecular-biology research on the continent also means that people of African descent might not benefit from drugs tailored to unique genetic variations. Infectious-disease surveillance also falls short, meaning that dangerous pathogens could evade detection until an outbreak is too big to contain easily.

Nigeria is poised to become a hub for genetics research, but a few stubborn challenges block the way.

For three years, anthropologist Alan Rogers has attempted to solve an evolutionary puzzle. His research untangles millions of years of human evolution by analyzing DNA strands from ancient human species known as hominins. Like many evolutionary geneticists, Rogers compares hominin genomes looking for genetic patterns such as mutations and shared genes. He develops statistical methods that infer the history of ancient human populations.

In 2017, Rogers led a study which found that two lineages of ancient humans, Neanderthals and Denisovans, separated much earlier than previously thought and proposed a bottleneck population size. It caused some controversy—anthropologists Mafessoni and Prüfer argued that their method for analyzing the DNA produced different results. Rogers agreed, but realized that neither method explained the genetic data very well.

“Both of our methods under discussion were missing something, but what?” asked Rogers, professor of anthropology at the University of Utah.

In this data article, we provide five datasets of mantis mitochondrial genomes: PCG123: nucleotide sequences of 13 protein-coding genes including all codon positions; PCG123R: nucleotide sequences of two rRNAs and 13 protein-coding genes including all codon positions; PCG12: nucleotide sequences of 13 protein-coding genes without third codon positions; PCG12R: nucleotide sequences of two rRNAs and 13 protein-coding genes without third codon positions, and PCGAA: amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes. These were used to construct phylogenetic relationships within Mantodea and the phylogenetic trees inferred from Bayesian analysis using two data sets (PCG12R, PCGAA) and Maximum Likelihood analysis using four data sets (PCG123, PCG12, PCG12R and PCGAA). We also provide initiation codon, termination codon, amino acid length and nucleotide diversity (Pi) of protein-coding genes among 27 mantises. The whole mitochondrial genomes of 27 praying mantises were submitted to GenBank with the accession numbers KY689112 – KY689138.

Had a very frank discussion with Greg Mustreader about transhumanism, learned helplessness of society in the face of aging and death, insufficient sense of urgency among researchers of aging, epigenetic rejuvenation, cryonics, and so on. No filter! 😁.

My blog on Medium: https://medium.com/@mustreader

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