Big Brains

While looking for something that will keep my interest along side with this weeks Thanksgiving festivities, I came across an interesting article called “Big Brains are All in the Genes”.  This article focuses on how through evolution our brains became larger and more complex. The scientist wanted to understand the genetic changes that are related to various adaptations in acquiring a lager brain. Gene families in thirty-nine different species of mammals were analyzed. These gene families are group of genes that are related to each other in some function. From the research done, there was a link between the various size of brain and the amount of gene families associated together. Thus the greater the amount of gene families linked together, the more complex and bigger the brain will be according to this research.  

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Ancient Virus Found In Modern Human DNA

Neanderthals are the extinct Homo sapiens species that are closely related to humans. Their DNA differs from our by .3% and now researchers from Oxford and Plymouth University have found ancient virus in our DNA from the extinct species. Genetic data was analyzed from these ancient species along with some genetic data from cancer patients and data from other ancient species called Denisovans. From the data collected, it was found that the virus originated millions of years ago. From this finding, researchers can now study the links between ancient viruses and new diseases.

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Creating Better Protein Through the Process of Evolution

A protein based drug has been developed through the concept of evolution. This drug specifically is targeted to help prevent heart disease. Specific protein functions were targeted and put through the process of evolution and time. This process would begin by having a lot of variations of the targeted cell and then picking the one variant that has evolved the best and then repeating the process again until you have a protein that carries the function you want. An international team along with the University of Leicester and Cambridge has been trying to develop this method to treat heart problems such as inflammation through the use of these ligand-trap protein. It is said that these evolutionary engineered proteins have good future applications in chemicals, pharmaceuticals and agriculture. 

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Genes Linked to Aging Brain

Out of a random population of 1,129 people from Mexican families of ages 18-83, scientist tested neurocognitive abilities which are linked to memory, attention, language, learning,reasoning, solving problems, etc., along with white matter. What was found was that there were genes associated with the rate the brain ages. The researchers made sure they sampled individuals who came from large families so they could observe the genetic factors in the study that were associated with age. The researchers also looked into the genetic factors that caused brain deterioration and the decrease in white matter. Since the researchers looked into one set of ethnicities, I wonder if there are any differences with other ethnicities and the associated genetic factors. 

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Pain Resistance in Mice

The Arizona bark in known to produce toxins that allows any predator who consumes it feels no pain. The primary organisms affected by mother nature are the grasshopper mice who feed on this bark and do not feel pain as they chew through the toxic bark. The sodium channel that enables pain in normal organisms has changed in several amino acids that causes no feeling of pain in these mice.

According to the researcher who has been doing this research ever since he was a post grad stated that the pain resistance is venom specific. Under the research of neurobiology Ashlee Rowe, her and her team studied two sodium channels called Nav1.7 and Nav1.8. As these receptors were studied, it was found that there was a response from these channels in House mice but not in grasshopper mice. Further research was done and it was found that the venom from the bark stopped the Nav1.8 activity which cause the pain resistance. 

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