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Category: genetics – Page 386

“Superpower” Discovered in Squids: They Can Massively Edit Their Own Genetics

Revealing yet another super-power in the skillful squid, scientists have discovered that squid massively edit their own genetic instructions not only within the nucleus of their neurons, but also within the axon — the long, slender neural projections that transmit electrical impulses to other neurons. This is the first time that edits to genetic information have been observed outside of the nucleus of an animal cell.

The study, led by Isabel C. Vallecillo-Viejo and Joshua Rosenthal at the Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, is published this week in Nucleic Acids Research.

Interaction between microbiota and immunity in health and disease

The interplay between the commensal microbiota and the mammalian immune system development and function includes multifold interactions in homeostasis and disease. The microbiome plays critical roles in the training and development of major components of the host’s innate and adaptive immune system, while the immune system orchestrates the maintenance of key features of host-microbe symbiosis. In a genetically susceptible host, imbalances in microbiota-immunity interactions under defined environmental contexts are believed to contribute to the pathogenesis of a multitude of immune-mediated disorders. Here, we review features of microbiome-immunity crosstalk and their roles in health and disease, while providing examples of molecular mechanisms orchestrating these interactions in the intestine and extra-intestinal organs. We highlight aspects of the current knowledge, challenges and limitations in achieving causal understanding of host immune-microbiome interactions, as well as their impact on immune-mediated diseases, and discuss how these insights may translate towards future development of microbiome-targeted therapeutic interventions.

Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity

I always enjoy the perspective of David Wood, and in this session of the London Futurists there is a panel discussion about genetic engineering in the future.

Our DNA is becoming as readable, writable, and hackable as our information technology. The resulting genetic revolution is poised to transform our healthcare, our choices for the characteristics of the next generation, and our evolution as a species. The future could bring breathtaking advances in human well-being, but it could also descend into a dangerous genetic arms race.

These claims are made in the recent book “Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity”, https://hackingdarwin.com/ by Technology Futurist Jamie Metzl, https://jamiemetzl.com/

Jamie’s view is that society isn’t at all ready for the fast-approaching future of widespread genetic hacking.

Here is some feedback for his book:

Continue reading “Hacking Darwin: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Humanity” | >

First clinical trial with genetically modified malaria vaccine completed

In an innovative study, Radboudumc and LUMC jointly tested a candidate vaccine based on a genetically weakened malaria parasite. The results of this clinical trial, published in Science Translational Medicine, show that the vaccine is safe and elicits a defense response against a malaria infection.

Malaria is a major infectious disease, caused by a parasite with a complicated life cycle in humans and mosquitoes. The in humans takes place in the liver, the second in the blood. Since the liver phase does not cause any symptoms of disease, but the blood phase does, the purpose of the vaccine is to stop the parasite in the liver.

Scientists enlist cattle to create potential COVID-19 drug

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — First is was monkeys, then dogs.

Now, researchers are turning to cows in hopes of developing a treatment for the coronavirus.

Scientists at SAb Biotherapeutics in South Dakota created an embryo via genetic engineering that contains human chromosomes. The embryo was then implanted into cattle. The cows gave birth to calves that internally function similarly to a person, specifically with regards to the human immune system.

New Stem Cell-Based Topical Solution Helps Bald People Regrow Hair

The results of a clinical trial released today (May 18, 2020) in STEM CELLS Translational Medicine demonstrate how a topical solution made up of stem cells leads to the regrowth of hair for people with a common type of baldness.

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) — commonly known as male-pattern baldness (female-pattern baldness in women) — is a condition caused by genetic, hormonal and environmental factors. It affects an estimated 50 percent of all men and almost as many women older than 50. While it is not a life-threatening condition, AGA can lower a person’s self-esteem and psychological well-being. There are a few FDA-approved medications to treat hair loss, but the most effective can have side effects such as loss of libido and erectile dysfunction. Therefore, the search continues for a safer, effective treatment.

Adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ADSCs) secrete several growth hormones that help cells develop and proliferate. According to laboratory and experimental studies, growth factors such as hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) increase the size of the hair follicle during hair development.

The Biological Singularity

Circa 2010 what someday we could use crispr to develop a biology singularity to find the epigenetics to evolve at lightning speed.

If you’re a sci-fi reader, you are probably familiar with the idea of the “technological singularity”. For the uninitiated, the Singularity is the idea that computational power is increasing so rapidly that soon there will be genuine artificial intelligence that will far surpass humans. Essentially, once you have smarter-than-human computers, they will drive their own advancement and we will no longer be able to comprehend the technology.

We can debate whether the singularity will or will not happen, and what the consequences might be, for a long time, but that’s not the point of this post. This post was inspired by the final chapter in Denialism by Michael Specter. In that chapter, Specter talks about the rapid advancement in biotechnology. Specifically, he points to the rapid increase in computational power and the resulting rapid increase in the speed of genome processing.

Intriguing Genetics That Flipped the Food Chain to Allow Carnivorous Plants to Hunt Animals

Plants can produce energy-rich biomass with the help of light, water and carbon dioxide. This is why they are at the beginning of the food chains. But the carnivorous plants have turned the tables and hunt animals. Insects are their main food source.

A publication in the journal Current Biology now sheds light on the secret life of the green carnivores. The plant scientist Rainer Hedrich and the evolutionary bioinformatician Jörg Schultz, both from Julius-Maximilians-Universität (JMU) Würzburg in Bavaria, Germany, and their colleague Mitsujasu Hasebe from the University of Okazaki (Japan) have deciphered and analyzed the genomes of three carnivorous plant species.

They studied the Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula, which originates from North America, the globally occurring waterwheel plant Aldrovanda vesiculosa and the spoon-leaved sundew Drosera spatulata, which is widely distributed in Asia.

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