BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: holmesosapiens

The Rice That Can Clone Itself

A team of scientists has discovered that through the use of CRISPR, they were able to create a rice plant that can asexually reproduce. The problem with previous strands of genetically modified rice plants, those bread to have a higher yield, is that their progeny did not always carry this desired trait. So farmers have to buy new genetically modified seeds every year to ensure that they will get that same yield.

Image result for rice grains

That is where the magic of CRISPR comes into the equation. The first step in the process was editing the eggs of the plant by implanting a promoter that allows the egg to start the embryo growing process without a sperm. One issue still lingered, the process of meiosis that was occurring could not produce viable offspring because it only had half of the genetic material that the progeny would need. Another team of scientists from the French National Institute for Agricultural Technology discovered that by using CRISPR to turn off three specific genes they could stop the meiosis process and allow the plant to reproduce asexually.

Image result for rice plant

This process is still only 30% efficient at this stage. However, the offspring they do produce are able to asexually produce more clones of themselves. Now the process starts to try and make this process more efficient. I think these plants could have a major impact on the agricultural industry, especially with food shortages becoming more present as the human population rapidly increases.

What do you think? Have we overstepped our bounds by editing nature? Or have we pioneered a new solution for the world hunger question on everyone’s minds?

The Effects of Non-Antibiotic Medication on Human Gut Flora

This article focuses on the effect of non-antibacterial drugs on human gut flora. The study published by the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Germany tested nearly 1200 drugs, some 835 of which were designed to target human cells, to see if they had any effect on the human gut flora. The team discovered that 27% of these drugs had an effect on the gut flora.

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Example of Human Gut Flora

However, these effects are not necessarily bad. They suggest that some of these changes may be some of the positive side effects of these drugs. The researchers also found a connection between the bacteria not directly affected by the drugs and antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

What are the consequences of such a discovery?

Although the results of the study did not answer the question directly, there could be a link between non-antibacterial drugs and antibacterial resistance. The study’s coauthor, Kiran Patil, says that such effects “should be looked at very seriously”.

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Ultimately the study highlights the importance of considering the drugs put into the human body and what effect they may have – positive or negative – on the human microbiome. Personally, I think that people in this day and age overuse drugs, popping anti-inflammatories and headache pills like they are candy. This has only decreased our sensitivity to these drugs and caused a need for stronger and stronger drugs. We often don’t consider what these powerful drugs are doing to our delicate and complex microbiomes.

What do you think of the results of this study? Is it something to be worried about or just trumped up malarkey?

Loneliness Is Bad For The Brain

This new study from the Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia suggests that loneliness can have quite an impact on the brain. The study is based on the effects of social isolation on mice. The mice were raised together where they could play with each other and form social ties. Then they were separated from each other for months on end. The results were quite interesting.

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Cross Section of Mouse Brain

After about a month of isolation, the mice developed more “spines” on their dendrites. This is peculiar because this development would usually happen as a response to a positive stimulus. The researchers theorize that the brain is trying to save itself from the loneliness. But this effort is not long lived. After three months of isolation, the brain returns to baseline levels of neural activity. The brain also has reduced amounts of a protein called BDNF, responsible for neural growth. They also found increased amounts of the stress hormone cortisol. Lonely mice also had more broken DNA than their socialite counterparts.

Although it is not known how the results of this study can relate to the brains of humans it may shed some light into the lesser known effects of loneliness on the brain. It also brings into question the effect incarceration could have on a person long term and whether or not it could be more harmful than rehabilitating. What do you think about this study? What could the results of a similar test on humans yield?

60 Million Year Old Farmers

Microbial ecologist Cameron Currie of the University of Wisconsin-Madison has made an intriguing discovery about the lives of some South American leaf-cutter ants. He found that long before humans cultivated fruits and vegetables for food ancient leaf cutter ants where cultivating fungus. The ants farm the fungus as a food source, but there are pathogenic bacteria that can kill the fungus. To thwart these malicious bacteria, the ants have formed a symbiotic relationship with a different bacteria known as actinobacteria. These actinobacteria fight off the pathogenic bacteria and protect the fungus.

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Leaf Cutter Ant

But how could we possibly know if fungal-farming ants existed millions of years ago?

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Ant Trapped In Amber

Well, I am glad you asked. Curries research focused on a 20-million-year-old sample of amber that had a few of these green-thumbed ants trapped inside. The ants had specialized pockets in their heads called crypts where the ants store these actinobacteria. These leaf cutter ants are walking pharmaceutical factories.

It is intriguing that some of the smallest insects on the planet where farming and cultivating food millions of years before we even thought of it. Not only that, but they have been using anti-biotics for millions of years whereas humans have only started using them 60 or 70 years ago.

What lessons do you think humans today can take away from these ants? Could they be the key to our anti-biotic overuse crisis?

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