Your Weekly KromoNews: June
19th, 2005
This Week in Genetics
Is our brain complexity influenced by genetic parasites?
It is now known that approximately 5% of the nucleus of the cell consists of genes.
The rest is comprised from the so-called DNA junk. Some of this material affects
the expression of the genes, some regulate the production of the proteins, thus
determining the type that the cell becomes. Some of this DNA material is known
to move around, jumping from chromosome to chromosome and is
considered genetic parasites.
Researchers from Salk Institute in California postulate that
activity of genetic parasites in the developing brain stem cells could provide
the necessary random variations. As the brain develops, large amounts of
the nerve cells are destroyed in the process of natural selection: the right
cells survive, others are eliminated. Genetic parasites create large
numbers of variety cells for the natural selection to act upon.
Read Full Story
Chemo immunotherapy followed by allogenic stem cell transplant
offers better survival for Richter's syndrome patients
Results of a University of Texas
study presented at the 9th International Conference on Malignant Melanoma in
Zurich, Switzerland, indicate that combined chemo immunotherapy followed by
allogenic stem cell transplantation dramatically increases response to
treatment.
Richter's syndrome is a rare complication
of a Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia and most often affects older patients.
Typically, the bone marrow of such patients stops producing red blood cells and
platelets, leading to severe anemia and spontaneous bleeding.
It has been suggested that such a combined treatment should be applied to all
patients with Richter's syndrome if the stem cell donor is available.
Read Full Story
Genome sequencing continues
This time the scientists
are looking into the genes of microbes. The first genetic sequencing occurred
more than a decade ago, and despite the hopes, has not yet led to revolutionary
treatments for diseases, like cancer or AIDS. However, it provided the
scientists with much better understanding about functions of individual
genes. Understanding the genetic structure and diversity of microbes would
allow us to understand the health of large natural ecosystems, as more
diversity, more genes means better resistance to damage. In addition,
genetically selected microbes could be "employed" by large industries,
some for production of hydrogen as a replacement for fossil fuel; some for
processing of ethanol into the car fuel, which presently requires use of
harsh chemicals. Scientists even say that properly selected microorganisms
could process radioactive waste. It is still a challenge to identify the genes
responsible for those functions, but work is on the way at the Sargasso Sea in
North Atlantic, where scientists are studying the genome of local viruses and
bacteria.
Read Full Story
Topic of the Week: Alcoholism
and Genetics
The link between genetics and
alcoholism has been long suspected, however specific gene for inheritance
of alcoholism has not been identified. Most likely, alcohol consumption is
influenced by both, environmental and genetic factors. Until recently alcoholism
was considered mostly a behavioral problem, however now medicine views it as a
complex condition, affected by various factors, such as genetics, family and
social conditioning and psychological health. Recent studies on humans and
animals demonstrate that genetics may play a significant role in the
development of tolerance for alcohol. Studies done on fruit flies at the
University of California show that drunken flies behave the same way the humans
do when intoxicated and the resistance to alcohol appears to be controlled by
the same molecular mechanism as humans.
Read full article
GeneMarket
This week, we focus not on a software, book or website, but on a video game!
(For those of you who do not like video games, we understand, it took us a significant
time to convince ourselves!). The game "Warbreeds", by Red Orb Entertainment
may be a fun way to introduce your teenager to the realm of genetics.
In terms of 3D renditions and animation, we rate the game 6 on a scale of 10,
but due to its nice genetics aspect, it is worth a look anyway.
Available at Amazon
GeneMatics Update
The genetic attributes in GeneMatics 2.2.4 can be easily modified to the only include the
attributes that you are interested in! Choose any available attributes in AttributeBank, or request more!
Buy it here!
Upcoming Events
KromoNews is pleased to announce genetics related events all across the globe.
While not all the events may be relevant or reachable from your particular location,
we are making efforts to customize this content
based on individual preferences, location and language.
Second Norther Lights Summer Conference, 2005
When: June 21-24, 2005
Topic:
Lifestyle & molecular bases of health & disease, cardiovascular health, diabetes, exercise, nutrition, obesity
Where: Canadian Federation of Biological Societies, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada
Contact: Website: http://www.cfbs.org/
This Week in History
Professor Reginald Punnett was born on June 20, 1875, in Kent, England.
He discovered an easy way to explain the complicated experiment
that Mendel performed with the pea plants. This easy way was
of course the Punnet Square that we are all so well familiar with now,
and that we continue to use to this day.
In some sense, Reginald Punnet can also be credited for directing a question to
his friend Godfrey Hardy, which led to the formulation of the Hardy-Weinberg principle.
› Read more about Reginald Punnett here.
Trivia
(Did you know that?)
The fruit fly, that is, the Drosophila Melanogaster became
a model organism for geneticists to research and experiment with in early 1900s.
Reasons for its popularity are somewhat obvious: it is small and easy to breed,
it has a short lifespan (so the effects of generations can be observed at
a faster rate), and it reproduces by creating a large number of offsprings,
an important criterion for making statistical studies feasible.
However, one of the important reasons for its continued success is not so obvious
(and was not known in early 1900s): During embryonic development, DNA can be
injected into it's embryo, and the injected DNA has access to thousands of the nuclei,
since during the embryonic stage, many nuclei are in syncytium, and not separated
by cell walls. This characteristic, though not unique to Drosophila alone, makes it
a good choice when coupled with other reasons and the vast literature available on it.
› Read more about Drosophila here.
› Visit Berkeley Drosophila Genome Project (BDGP) website.
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