Lifeboat Foundation

“Our study points to sex-and environment-specific effects of a common genetic variant. In the mice, we observed that Ghrd3 leads to a ‘female-like’ expression pattern of dozens of genes in male livers under calorie restriction, which potentially leads to the observed size reduction,” Saitou says.

“Females, already smaller in size, may suffer from negative evolutionary consequences if they lose body weight. Thus, it is a reasonable and also very interesting hypothesis that a genetic variant that may affect response to nutritional stress has evolved in a sex-specific manner,” Mu says.

A new study delves into the evolution and function of the human growth hormone receptor gene, and asks what forces in humanity’s past may have driven changes to this vital piece of DNA.

Continue reading “In a gene tied to growth, scientists see glimmers of human history” »

Leave it to the Japanese to come up with technology-induced fruit

A Tokyo-based startup called Sanatech Seed Co. teamed up with scientists at the University of Tsukuba to develop a new variety of tomatoes with the help of CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology. The result was a Sicilian Rouge High GABA which contains high levels of gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA), an amino acid that is believed to have lower blood pressure and help in relaxation.

The company was able to add high levels of GABA by removing an inhibitory domain within the tomato’s genome to enable the high production of GABA. According to Shimpei Takeshita, President of Sanatech Seed and Chief Innovation Officer of Pioneer EcoScience, the company was given permission to commercialize the genetically altered Sicilian Rouge GABA variety last December. The contract farmers had been growing them ever since and now these tomatoes are finally ready to hit the stores and become a useful product.

A sperm’s task may appear straightforward; after all, all it needs to do is swim to an egg and insert genetic material. However, in some cases, a healthy sperm’s inability to swim may result in infertility, which affects around 7 percent of all males.

This condition is called asthenozoospermia, and there is currently no cure. However, one study conducted in 2016 and published in the journal Nano Letters has set the example for what could be possible in the future: A team of researchers from the Institute for Integrative Nanosciences at IFW Dresden in Germany developed tiny motors that can make sperm swim better as they make their way to an egg, essentially acting as a taxi.

Continue reading “Watch Nanobot Carry Lazy Sperm to Fertilize Living Eggs” »

As this is the first report of neuro-inflammation in Kleefstra syndrome, the next step is to find out if it also occurs in the human condition. Shinkai believes the chances are high and says he would not be surprised if other neurological diseases caused by epigenetic dysregulation were also related to abnormal inflammation in the brain.

Researchers at the RIKEN Cluster for Pioneering Research (CPR) in Japan report that Kleefstra syndrome, a genetic disorder that leads to intellectual disability, can be reversed after birth in a mouse model of the disease. Published in the scientific journal iScience, the series of experiments led by Yoichi Shinkai showed that postnatal treatment resulted in improved symptoms, both in the brain and in behavior.

Normally, we get two good copies of most genes, one from each parent. In Kleefstra syndrome, one copy of the EHMT1 gene is mutated or missing. This leads to half the normal amount of GLP, a protein whose job is to control genes related to brain development through a process called H3K9 methylation. Without enough GLP, H3K9 methylation is also reduced, and the connections between neurons in the brain do not develop normally. The result is intellectual disability and autistic-like symptoms. “We still don’t know if Kleefstra syndrome is a curable disease after birth or how this epigenetic dysregulation leads to the neurological disorder,” says Shinkai. “Our studies in mice have provided new information about what causes the behavioral abnormalities associated with the syndrome and have shown that a cure is a real possibility in the future.”

Continue reading “A genetic brain disease reversed after birth” »

Microbes may have influenced the evolution of the social brain and behavior as a means to propagate their own genetic material.

—Cryan, Dinan, et al., November 2,019 Science.

In an effort to extend their territory, microbes may push us to socialize.

The pharmaceuticals firm GSK has struck a five-year partnership with King’s College London to use artificial intelligence to develop personalised treatments for cancer by investigating the role played by genetics in the disease.

The tie-up, which involves 10 of the drug maker’s artificial intelligence experts working with 10 oncology specialists from King’s across their labs, will use computing to “play chess with cancer”, working out why only a fifth of patients respond well to immuno-oncology treatments.

CRISPR technology offers the promise to cure any human genetic disease with gene editing; which one will be the first?

CRISPR-Cas9 was first used as a gene-editing tool in 2012. In just a few years, the technology has exploded in popularity thanks to its promise of making gene editing much faster, cheaper, and easier than ever before.

CRISPR is short for ‘clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats.’ The term makes reference to a series of repetitive patterns found in the DNA of bacteria that form the basis of a primitive immune system, defending them from viral invaders by cutting their DNA.

Ancient DNA extracted from human bones has rewritten early Japanese history by underlining that modern day populations in Japan have a tripartite genetic origin—a finding that refines previously accepted views of a dual genomic ancestry.

Twelve newly sequenced ancient Japanese genomes show that modern day populations do indeed show the genetic signatures of early indigenous Jomon hunter-gatherer-fishers and immigrant Yayoi farmers—but also add a third genetic component that is linked to the Kofun peoples, whose culture spread in Japan between the 3^rd and 7^th centuries.

He explored the possibility of using gene therapy or gene editing—technologies that were dominating headlines for their ability to tackle other rare genetic disorders. But scientists told him those approaches would be difficult to implement for Dravet. Instead, a newfangled idea called transfer RNA (tRNA) therapy seemed like it might be the answer.

Drug Discovery tRNA therapies could help restore proteins lost in translation.

A new class of therapies based on transfer RNA could treat forms of cystic fibrosis, muscular dystrophy, genetic epilepsies, and more by.

Continue reading “TRNA therapies could help restore proteins lost in translation” »