Joshua and the Joyce Family
From time to time I stumble upon captivating articles that
have no direct relevance to the mission of this blog: to search out important
developments in our war on ovarian cancer and pass what I learn on to you. Usually I attempt to persuade myself that the
article in question has enough bearing on OVCA to justify slipping it in somewhere
as a “Comment”. However, sometimes I
simply sigh and, hit the “Delete” button.
Well, I have just
encountered a little essay that I don’t want to delete, regardless of its
irrelevance. It is about genes, and it
was written by the Director of the NIH.
So….I’m going to start a blog-bit I might call Fun Facts about Biology,
to use as a repository for any intriguing-but-irrelevant bio tidbits I run
across, All of you many biological aficionados
should remember to check back now and then.
I will alert you to new Fun Facts by sticking FFaB at the bottom of new
entries. Well, that sounds stupid, but
you know what I mean.
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Here is an introduction to duplicated genes, pseudogenes,
and evolution:
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So, which is
the scariest?
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Mukherjee to the rescue:
Seventy five readers so far have clicked on this link,
expecting to pass some innocent time enjoying “Fun Facts about Biology”. They were disappointed. To partially rectify this error, I offer the
following assortment on Fun Facts, all taken from pp. 322=326 of Siddhartha
Mukherjee’s new book The Gene: An
intimate history.
The gene is like a book written with only four letters:
A,T,C,G. Our genome contains over three
billion of these letters, strung together without punctuation or explanatory
cartoons. Scientists have been known to
go mad from prolonged reading of this book.
This tedious collection of letters encodes about 20,800
genes. Worms have nearly as many – and both
wheat and rice have more. Gorillas and
humans share about 96% of our genomes in common. However, gorillas have 24 chromosomes whereas
we have only 23. As Mukherjee says,
somewhere in evolutionary time we lost a chromosome, but gained a thumb. He is clever.
The conspicuous difference between us on the one hand, and
rice and wheat (“breakfast cereal”, says Mukherjee) on the other rests not in
our genes, but in how we use them. This
leads to such deep and abstruse subjects as epigenetics and the true meaning of “junk” DNA. No one can twist such stuff into a Fun Fact.
There are 155 separate genes that control our sense of
smell. Dogs have smelling ability
thousands of times better than humans.
Does that call for more genes?
Pretty surely not; they probably just use them better. Given the state of my kitchen counters I am
glad I am not a dog.
Lots more interesting stuff in Mukherjee’s book. Read it sometime.
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Donald Trump as President
Britain pulling out of the European Union
Britain pulling out of the European Union
Contagious cancer
Whatever:
the NYTimes has argued against all three.
One has just happened, one is still undecided, and one – the scariest,
really – turns out to possible.
Tasmanian Devils and dogs have been known to suffer from a type of
transmissible cancer for years. Now it
turns out that our ocean waters are fairly aswim with free-floating cancer
cells just waiting to infect all kinds of shell fish. So far these cancers have not learned how to
cross over to humans, but who knows? I
plan to eat as many clams, mussels and oysters as possible before they do.
I know you’re too wise to fall for this crap, but read this
article to verify that, yes, we still need the FDA
Here is an
interesting bio-article you should read.
It goes some way toward explaining how it is possible to determine how
human races originated, migrated, and intermingled. It also offers some hope for diagnosis and
treatment of some diseases. What you
must know:
1)
The human genome consists of perhaps 3 billion “letters”. To sequence the whole thing currently costs
about $1000.
2)
Only a small fraction of the genome actually
consists of genes, the blueprints for proteins.
3)
Of these genes, more than half of their “letters
“code for “introns”, which must be cut out before the gene can be converted
into something functional. These introns
separate “exons” which, after the introns are cut out must be stitched together
and transported to a ribosome for protein synthesis.
But of
course you knew all this already.
Anyway:
4)
It is much cheaper to sequence exons than whole
genomes, because they amount to only ~1% of the 3 billion letters. If a whole genome sequencing costs $1000,
then an exon study should cost only about ten bucks. Fat chance!
5)
How they do any of this is beyond my pay grade.
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What is a "knockout mouse?" Why do they knock the little fellows out, and how so they do it? What justifies this act od unrepentant cruelty? Which genes are essential for life? All that and more on 60 minutes - no, I mean by clicking on:
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/09/20/of-mice-and-men-study-pinpoints-genes-essential-for-life/
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Medical science stumbles forward, aided by monkeyshttps://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/09/20/of-mice-and-men-study-pinpoints-genes-essential-for-life/
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Tricking diseased cells into making their own poison:
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More fun stuff about our micribiome and what it's good (and bad) for. Did you know that we carry around about 2 pounds worth oj bacteria, fungi and other creepy-crawlers?
https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/infant-gut-microbes-linked-allergy-asthma-risk
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https://www.nih.gov/news-events/nih-research-matters/infant-gut-microbes-linked-allergy-asthma-risk
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https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/11/01/mock-siv-treatment-post-for-updating-with-fcs-edit/
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You’ve heard of Intelligent Design? Well, I find arguments in its favor
unconvincing. However, I am beginning to
believe in a corollary: Malevolent
Design. Evidence for MD consists of all
the ways that cancer cells have evolved to protect themselves: to allow them to go forth, be fruitful, and multiply in the
face of everything the body’s defense system throws against them. It always has been a mystery how cancer cells
obtained the energy to do their dirty work.
Well, here – apparently – is one way.
Read the article: you will learn some important stuff.
https://www.cancer.gov/news-events/cancer-currents-blog/2016/cancer-metabolism-lactate?cid=eb_govdel
Another very good reason not to horse around with the Zika virus
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/11/08/could-zika-virus-have-lasting-impact-on-male-fertility/
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The hot bio=topics of 2018
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/01/02/biomedical-research-highlighted-in-science-magazines-2018-breakthroughs/
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https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2016/11/08/could-zika-virus-have-lasting-impact-on-male-fertility/
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The hot bio=topics of 2018
https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/01/02/biomedical-research-highlighted-in-science-magazines-2018-breakthroughs/
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