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UCLA Biologists Reveal Potential ‘Fatal Flaw’ In Iconic Sexual Selection Study

By Guest PostJune 27, 2012Scienceangus john bateman, charles darwin, common fruit fly, curly wings, descent of man, dna analysis, double mutant offspring, drosophila melanogaster, eastern bluebirds, english geneticist, evolutionary advantage, fatal flaw, female, female behavior, fruit flies, kim derose, male, mate, molecular genetics, mutation, paradigms, patricia adair gowaty, promiscuous, sexual selection, wyatt anderson, yong kyu kim

A classic study from more than 60 years ago suggesting that males are more promiscuous and females more choosy in selecting mates may, in fact, be wrong, say life scientists who are the first to repeat the historic experiment using the same methods as the original.

In 1948, English geneticist Angus John Bateman published a study showing that male fruit flies gain an evolutionary advantage from having multiple mates, while their female counterparts do not. Bateman’s conclusions have informed and influenced an entire sub-field of evolutionary biology for decades.

“Bateman’s 1948 study is the most-cited experimental paper in sexual selection today because of its conclusions about how the number of mates influences fitness in males and females,” said Patricia Adair Gowaty, a distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at UCLA. “Yet despite its important status, the experiment has never been repeated with the methods that Bateman himself originally used, until now. (more…)

Disease that Stunts Infants’ Growth Traced to Same Gene that Makes Kids Grow too Fast

By Guest PostMay 30, 2012Scienceabhik banerjee, acronym, adrenal hypoplasia, alice, alice fleming, beckwith wiedemann syndrome, caterpillar, children, chromosome 11, dna sample, edward mccabe, eric vilain, france, geneticist, genital anomalies, genome, growth restriction, hane lee, hormone replacement therapy, image syndrome, infants growth, john achermann, lewis carroll, metaphyseal dysplasia, mushroom, mutation, nature genetics, protein coding factory, ucla, valerie arboleda, wonderland

Discovery ends UCLA scientist’s 20-year quest for cause of IMAGe syndrome

The Caterpillar got down off the mushroom … remarking as it went, ‘One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.’

—Lewis Carroll, “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”

UCLA geneticists have identified the mutation responsible for IMAGe syndrome, a rare disorder that stunts infants’ growth. The twist? The mutation occurs on the same gene that causes Beckwith–Wiedemann syndrome, which makes cells grow too fast, leading to very large children.

Published in the May 27 edition of the journal Nature Genetics, the UCLA findings could lead to new ways of blocking the rapid cell division that allows tumors to grow unchecked. The discovery also offers a new tool for diagnosing children with IMAGe syndrome, which until now has been difficult to identify accurately. (more…)

Low Quality Genes May Cause Mutational Meltdown

By Guest PostApril 19, 2012Scienceaneil agrawal, chromosome, DNA, dna damage, drosophila melanogaster, eeb, environmental stress, evolutionary biologist, extinction, fruit fly, genetic deficiencies, high quality gene, low quality gene, mammal, mutation, nathaniel sharp, poor genetic quality, repairing dna, species, university of toronto

Deficiencies compound over time, researchers say

Evolutionary biologists at the University of Toronto have found that individuals with low-quality genes may produce offspring with even more inferior chromosomes, possibly leading to the extinction of certain species over generations.

Their study, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, predicts that organisms with such genetic deficiencies could experience an increased number of mutations in their DNA, relative to individuals with high-quality genes. The research was done on fruit flies whose simple system replicates aspects of biology in more complex systems, so the findings could have implications for humans. (more…)

Cancer Genes Differ in Different Parts of a Tumour

By Guest PostMarch 17, 2012Health, Sciencebiomarkers, biopsies, biopsy, cancer cell, cancer treatment, charles swanton, gene faults, genetic fault, genetic landscape, genetic variation, genome, genome sequencing technology, james larkin, kidney cancer, kidney tumours, lesley walker, molecular change, mutation, primary tumour, subtype, theory, tree of life, tumour, ubiquitous mutations

Taking a sample from just one part of a tumour may not give a full picture of its‘genetic landscape’, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

The findings could help explain why attempts at using single biopsies to identify biomarkers to which personalised cancer treatments can be targeted have not been more successful. (more…)

Treatment For TB Can Be Guided By Patients’ Genetics

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2012Scienceanti-inflammatory, charles serhan, corticosteroids, david tobin, dexamethasone therapy, duke university, francisco roca, gene, gene variant, genetic sequence, goldilocks effect, guy thwaites, harvard university, heterozygous advantage, human genetics, hyperinflammation, infection, inflammation, inflammatory response, lalita ramakrishnan, leukotriene b4, lipoxins, lta4h, mary claire king, mutation, oxford university, patient, pro inflammatory, seattle, substance, tb, tb like infection, tb meningitis, tuberculosis, tuberculosis treatment, university of washington, Vietnam, zebrafish

A gene that influences the inflammatory response to infection may also predict the effectiveness of drug treatment for a deadly form of tuberculosis.

An international collaboration between researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle, Duke University, Harvard University, the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit in Vietnam and Kings College London reported these findings Feb. 3 in the journal Cell. (more…)

Gene Mutation Discovery Sparks Hope For Effective Endometriosis Screening

By Guest PostFebruary 9, 2012Health, Scienceabdominal cavity, cervix, chronic pelvic pain, endometrial growth, endometrial risk, endometriosis, gene mutation, genetic basis, hugh s taylor, infertility, joanne weidhaas, kras gene, kras protein, mutation, olga grechukhina, ovaries, rafaella petracco, school of medicine, shota popkhadze, therapeutic target, uterine tissue, vagina, yale

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition affecting millions of women that is marked by chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The researchers’ discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods.

Published in the Feb. 3 early online issue of EMBO Molecular Medicine, the study explored an inherited mutation located in part of the KRAS gene, which leads to abnormal endometrial growth and endometrial risk. In endometriosis, uterine tissue grows in other parts of the body, such as the abdominal cavity, ovaries, vagina, and cervix. The condition is often hereditary and is found in 5%-15% of women of reproductive age, affecting over 70 million women worldwide. (more…)

MSU Researchers Show How New Viruses Evolve, And in Some Cases, Become Deadly

By Guest PostJanuary 27, 2012Sciencebacteria, beacon, beneficial mutation, bird flu, devin dobias, e coli bacterium, evolve, jeff barrick, justin meyer, lambda, michigan state university, mutation, natural selection, Netherlands, new virus, ompf protein, ribbon diagram, richard lenski, ryan quick, Science, survival of the fittest, united states, virus evolution

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In the current issue of Science, researchers at Michigan State University demonstrate how a new virus evolves, which sheds light on how easy it can be for diseases to gain dangerous mutations.

The scientists showed for the first time how the virus called “Lambda” evolved to find a new way to attack host cells, an innovation that took four mutations to accomplish. This virus infects bacteria, in particular the common E. coli bacterium. Lambda isn’t dangerous to humans, but this research demonstrated how viruses evolve complex and potentially deadly new traits, said Justin Meyer, MSU graduate student, who co-authored the paper with Richard Lenski, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. (more…)

Researchers Uncover How New Melanoma Drug Accelerates Secondary Skin Cancers

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2012Healthantoni ribas, braf mutation, cancer growth, cancer mutation, cancer treatment, drug, hematology, malignant cells, mechanism, mek inhibitor, melanoma cells, metastatic melanoma, mutated braf protein, mutation, oncogenic mutations, oncology, patients, plexxikon, ras mutation, roche, ruby family foundation, seaver institute, secondary skin cancers, side effect, skin squamous cell carcinomas, vemurafenib, zelboraf

Patients with metastatic melanoma taking the recently approved drug vemurafenib (marketed as Zelboraf) responded well to the twice-daily pill, but some of them developed a different, secondary skin cancer.

Now, researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, working with investigators from the Institute of Cancer Research in London, Roche and Plexxikon, have elucidated the mechanism by which the drug excels at fighting melanoma but also allows for the development of skin squamous-cell carcinomas. (more…)

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