BioQuakes

AP Biology class blog for discussing current research in Biology

Tag: Africa

The Microbiome of the African Hunter-Gatherer

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On November 19, 2018

In Student Post

Photo Credit: Andy Lederer on Flickr

In a study published on August 24th, 2017 on the gut microbiomes of the Hadza people of Tanzania, several key findings were brought forth on how our microbiomes work.  The microbiome is the trillions of bacteria cells that live in and on all multicellular organisms.  Our knowledge on microbiomes is somewhat limited, but that didn’t stop this team of scientists, led by Justin Sonnenburg of Stanford University, who aimed to track the differences between the microbiomes of different peoples and to catalogue the vast array of bacteria that the microbiome is comprised of.

The Hadza, as a hunter-gatherer group, vary their diet heavily depending on the Tanzanian seasons.  During the dry season, they have more access to hunted game. During the wet season, their diet is mainly comprised of berries and honey.  The bacteria present in their microbiomes when tested during the different seasons reflects this change in diet.  Microbes such as the phylum Bacteriodetes varies heavily with the seasons, a trend which has been seen in several other nonindustrialized groups.

The researches then compared their findings among the Hadza to industrialized peoples as well as other nonindustrialized peoples and found that “the groups of microbes that varied seasonally in the Hadza were largely absent in the industrialized microbiomes, but present in the microbiomes of people who live similarly to them.”  This is further evidence on the relationship between the human microbiome and environment that could play a key role in the future as we discover how the microbiome affects human health.

For the original article on this study, click here

Fighting the mosquito disease problems with… mosquitos?

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On October 10, 2018

In Student Post

Since the discovery of CRISPR-Cas9 system (Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats), gene editing has become a highly debated topic. One of the reasons backing the use of CRISPR-cas9 is to prevent diseases. These diseases include mosquito-borne diseases such as zika, dengue fever, and malaria.  Malaria in particular kills around 3,000 children every year. Various groups of scientists have worked on genetically modifying mosquitos to stop the spread of malaria by making female offspring sterile and unable to bite, making male offspring sterile, or making mosquitos resistant to carrying diseases. A point of concern was if the modified gene would stay relative and would carry from generations. In order to make offspring, genes from both parents must be used, resulting in the offspring carrying the modified gene only half the time.  In particular cases, mutations would occur in the altered DNA, which nullified the genetic changes.  This has been solved by developing a gene drive, which makes the desired gene dominant and occur in the offspring almost 100% of time.  This entails almost the entire mosquito population could have this modified gene in as little as 11 generations.

Image by Author

Recently, the government of Burkina Faso, a small land-locked nation in west Africa, has approved for scientists to release mosquitos that are genetically modified anytime this year or next year.  The particular group of mosquitos to be released first is a group of sterile males, which would die rather quickly.  Scientists want to test the impact of releasing a genetically modified eukaryotic organism in the Africa. It is the first step in “Target Malaria” project to rid the region of malaria once and for all.

 

One of the major challenges in gaining allowance to release the genetically modified species was the approval of the residences, who lack words in the local language to describe genetics or gene editing.  Lea Pare, who leads a team of scientists modifying mosquitos, is working with linguists to answer questions the locals may have and tp help develop vocabulary to describe this complex scientific process.

What do you think about gene editing to possibly save millions?

Read the original article here.

View a video explaining how scientists can use genetic engineering to fight disease here.

The Continued Spread of Ebola

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On October 19, 2014

In Student Post

 

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The most recent epidemic that is spreading through Africa is Ebola. It has taken the lives of over a thousand people, but it could get much worse. Without proper isolation and treatment of the infection scientists predict the number of infected individuals could increase to more than 20,000 in just six weeks. Some scientists are even predicting more than a million deaths due to Ebola if  treatment and containment is not improved. Ebola is generally transmitted from animals to humans, who then pass the virus t each other by contact. Symptoms generally include fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headaches and a sore throat, which is then followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, and finally impaired kidney and liver function. The fatality rage for this contagion is about 70%. As of right now there is no vaccine for this virus, and the best way to stop the spread of it is to simply isolate those experiencing symptoms. This virus is currently being closely monitored as it is unknown whether the situation in Africa will get worse, and begin to spread to other countries, infecting people by the thousands. Hopefully scientists are able to discover a vaccine that will halt the spread of this deadly virus, saving the lives of thousands of individuals

New Deadly Virus Discoved in Africa

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On October 6, 2012

In Student Post

Recently an article was released summarizing the discovery of a new disease in Africa. In 2009 a fifteen year old boy in a small village in the Democratic Republic of the Congo fell ill. The initial symptoms were malaise and a bloody nose, but quickly the boy developed an acute hemorrhagic fever. Within two days of the showing symptoms the boy died. Approximately eleven days later a thirteen year old girl who went to the same school as Patient One developed similar symptoms, and died three days later. At the local health center which both Patients One and Two visited, a thirty-two year old male nurse began to experience identical symptoms. He was moved to the hospital in Boma, Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the doctors drew blood and began to test for known viruses; they found nothing. However, very recently a research team used deep sequencing to determine the pathogen,which they dubbed “Bas-Congo Virus”, and posted their results in the Public Library of Science Journal. It was discovered that the virus belonged to the Rhabdoviridae family, best known for the Rabies virus. Interestingly enough, though, the Bas-Congo virus only shares 34% of the amino acids found in other Rhabdoviruses, meaning that it is very different. The discovery of this virus may end up being of great importance due to the possibility that the virus may return. In any case, we will have one less pathogen on this planet to identity lest there be another, more deadly, outbreak.

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