BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Author: koromasomes

Single father birds taking care of their babies

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On April 28, 2018

In Student Post

 Researchers at University of Bath, studied six different populations of plovers located across Africa, Asia and Latin America. The three populations of plover birds had a balance in the sex ratio of males to females and shared parenting of their offspring. The scientists found that in populations when there were more males than females, or vice versa, the parenting roles shifted leaving the males to look after the chicks.

Professor Tamás Székely, Professor of Biodiversity at the Milner Centre for Evolution at the University of Bath said: “When there are more males in the population, the females have more opportunities to find partners and so they are more likely to leave the family and mate with multiple partners in the breeding season, leaving their male partner to look after the chicks.”

According to the researchers, it is harder for male plovers  to get another partner. Therefore, they are more likely to stay monogamous and be the primary parent and invest time in raising their offspring. Influencing mate availability, the adult sex ratio can change social behaviour with divorce, infidelity, and parental antagonism due to being more common in sex-biased populations.

The study, published in Nature Communications, took data collected over 10 years from six wild shorebird populations that were closely related but displayed different parental strategies.

Dr Luke Eberhart-Phillips said: “We found that the chicks had a 50:50 sex ratio at hatching in all these species, and that the skewed adult sex ratios were caused by a difference in survival of male and female juveniles, although it’s still unclear why this happens.

“Our study highlights the knock-on effects that differences in survival rates between the sexes can have on population dynamics and social behaviour.”

The researchers continue to investigate how sex ratio and population affects social behavior.

Crispr is coming soon to hospitals and medical facilities near you

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On March 16, 2018

In Student Post

In 2013, researchers demonstrated a type of gene editing ,called Crispr-Cas9, which could be used to edit living human cells. This means that DNA could be altered. It has been tested in labs, but now it is going to be tested on humans.
Crispr Therapeutics applied for permission from European regulators to test a code-named CTX001, in patients suffering from beta-thalassaemia, an inherited blood disease where the body does not produce enough healthy red blood cells. Patients with the most severe form of the illness would die without frequent transfusions.
If the trials are successful, Crispr, Editas and a third company, Intellia Therapeutics, plan to study the technique in humans with a bigger range of diseases including cancer, cystic fibrosis, hemophilia and Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Since China is more lenient when it comes to human trials, several studies are already happened, but there was no conclusive data.
Katrine Bosley, chief executive of Editas, says the field of gene editing is moving at “lightning speed”, but that the technique will at first be limited to illnesses “where there are not other good options”.

The reason for this is because, as with any new technology, scientists and regulators are not fully aware of the safety risks involved. “We want it to be as safe as it can, but of course there is this newness,” says Ms Bosley.

Although Crispr-Cas9 has not yet been trialled in humans in Europe or the US, it has already benefited medical research greatly by speeding up laboratory work. It used to take scientists several years to create a genetically modified mouse for their experiments, but with Crispr-Cas9 “transgenic” mice can be produced in a few weeks.
Despite the sucesses, the field of gene editing has been hampered by several setbacks. Editas had hoped to start human trials earlier, but was forced to move the date back after it encountered manufacturing delays. Crispr has lost several key executives in recent months, while Cellectis had to suspend its first trial briefly last year after a patient died.

Crispr is in its beginning stages ,and although it is not yet mainstream, it is expected to be completely groundbreaking in the field of medicine.

What is that? Oh, it is the first ever hybrid bird species from the Amazon!!

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On January 18, 2018

In Student Post

According to the Science Daily article, A team of researchers from Scarborough revealed ,through a series of tests, a golden crowned manikin. This bird was first discovered in Brazil in 1957 ,but not seen until 2002.

“While hybrid plant species are very common, hybrid species among vertebrates are exceedingly rare,” says Associate Professor Jason Weir, senior author of the research.

A hybrid species forms when two parental species mate to produce a hybrid population, which then causes the birds to stop being able to freely interbreed with the parental species

The teams gathered genetic and feather samples over two trips to Brazil. They sequenced a large portion of the golden-crowned manakin’s genome including 16,000 different genetic markers. This led to the finding that 20 percent of its genome came from the snowy-crowned, and about 80 per cent came from the opal-crowned. In addition to that, the researchers used coalescent modelling to figure out at what point the golden-crowned split off from its parental species.

“The golden-crowned manakin ended up with an intermediate keratin structure that does a poor job of making either the brilliant white or the reflective iridescence of the parental species,” says Weir.

In its early existence, The golden-crowned manakin likely had duller white or grey feathers due to its keratin structure ,but eventually grew into yellow feathers to attract females. This led to unique color of the species.

“Without geographic isolation, it’s very likely this would never have happened because you don’t see the hybrids evolving as separate species in other areas where both parental species meet.”

 

 

 

Build A Baby?!

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On December 10, 2017

In Student Post

Have you ever wanted a baby to be a super fast swimmer like Michael Phelps? How about a child who has more talent than Mozart? Well, that can’t happen.

According to the  New York Times Article, Scientists in Oregon have successfully modified the DNA of human embryos. This led to the new hope that designer babies are in our near future. But, designer babies are more likely to be seen in movies than in reality.

The main reason why designer babies are unlikely is because great vocals and amazing coordination does not come from a single gene mutation, or even from an easily identifiable number of genes.

Hank Greely, director of the Center for Law and the Biosciences at Stanford, said,“Right now, we know nothing about genetic enhancement,”. “We’re never going to be able to say, honestly, ‘This embryo looks like a 1550 on the two-part SAT.’”File:Baby Face.JPG

Physical traits, like height or arm length, will also be difficult to genetically manipulate. Some scientists estimate height is influenced by as many as 93,000 genetic variations. A recent study identified 697 of them.

Talents and traits aren’t the only thing that are genetically complex. So are most physical diseases and psychiatric disorders. The genetic message is not a picture book ,but it actually resembles a shelf full of books with chapters, subsections and footnotes.So talents, traits and most medical conditions are out of the equation.

But about 10,000 medical conditions are linked to specific mutations, including Huntington’s disease, cancers caused by BRCA genes, Tay-Sachs disease, cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and some cases of early-onset Alzheimer’s. Repairing the responsible mutations in theory could eradicate these diseases from the so-called germline, the genetic material passed from one generation to the next. No future family members would inherit them.

Although this is challenging, it is proven to be more possible for scientists to alter the genes that lead to genetic diseases.

Last but not least, it is illegal.
There are debates regarding ethics and “playing God”. “I’m totally against,” said Dr. Belmonte. “The possibility of moving forward not to create or prevent disease but rather to perform gene enhancement in humans.”

Other people are scared of a super children takeover.

“Allowing any form of human germline modification leaves the way open for all kinds — especially when fertility clinics start offering ‘genetic upgrades’ to those able to afford them,” Marcy Darnovsky, executive director of the Center for Genetics and Society, said in a statement. “ We could all too easily find ourselves in a world where some people’s children are considered biologically superior to the rest of us.”

In summary, genetic modification for babies will only be used in dire cases. Therefore, the only way I can have a red head child who can play the piano and the flute simultaneously with their feet is through Sims 4.

Predetermined diagnosis of PTSD and Depression can lead to prevention of psychological disorders

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On October 16, 2017

In Student Post

According to Science Daily, questions that tests the psychological attributes that deal with coping ability, adaptability, and optimism. The questions are used to identify high-risk individuals and provide them with psychological and social resources to help them cope with the troubles dealing with deployment.

Researchers created an individual score that composites the soldier’s risk using baseline psychological attributes and demographic information such as martial status, gender, race, education and military occupation group.They found out of those whose score classified them as being at highest risk for psychological health disorders , which is at the top 5% of the score, 31% screened positive for depression, while 27% screened positive for PTSD after return from deployment.

 Professor Yu-Chu Shen, lead author of the study said: “We found that soldiers who had the worst pre-military psychological health attribute scores — those in the bottom 5% of scores — carried much higher odds of screening positive for depression and PTSD after returning home than the top 95%. Soldiers who score worst before deployment might be more susceptible to developing debilitating mental health disorders when they are later exposed to combat environments.”

The results suggest that psychological screening before deployment can be helpful in identifying the individuals who carry significant risk for psychological health disorders. Being aware of this risk could enable interventions to improve soldiers’ psychological health prior to exposing them to combat.

 

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