“The team compiled the first catalogue of all the RNA transcripts expressed in N. viridescens, looking at both primary and regenerated tissue in the heart, limbs and eyes of both embryos and larvae.
The researchers found more than 120,000 RNA transcripts, of which they estimate 15,000 code for proteins. Of those, 826 were unique to the newt. What is more, several of those sequences were expressed at different levels in regenerated tissue than in primary tissue.” Click picture for more.
Genomic sequencing of a SARS-like virus suggests retlation to a virus that is known to infect bats. From NPR news:
Dutch virologists have just published the whole genome of the new coronavirus — all 30,118 letters of its code. And, the sequence reveals that the mystery virus is most closely related to coronaviruses that infect bats in Southeast Asia.
In fact, the pathogen is more similar to two bat viruses than it is to the human SARS virus that sent the world into a panic when it infected nearly 8,000 people in 2003.
Virologist Ron Fouchier, who has done controversial work on bird flu viruses, led the sequencing effort of the SARS-like virus. He tells Shots the results suggest that the new coronavirus virus came from bats. “Bats harbor many coronaviruses, so it’s logical to assume that bats are the natural reservoir” of the new pathogen, he says.
“But this doesn’t mean the Saudi man contracted the virus from bats,” says Fouchier.
When viruses jump from animals to humans, there’s usually a second animal that connects the natural carrier with humans. This species is called the amplifier because it increases the number of viral particles that can hop over into people.
Three teams of scientists have made progress identifying gene mutations that may lead to autism. They have also found further evidence autism risk increases among older parents, especially when the father is over age 35. Three unaffiliated groups have completed studies that are published on the website of the journal Nature this week. From a summary of the research findings in the New York Times:
The three research teams took a similar approach, analyzing genetic material taken from blood samples of families in which parents who have no signs of autism give birth to a child who develops the disorder. This approach gives scientists the opportunity to spot the initial mutations that accompany the condition, rather than trying to work though possible genetic contributions from maternal and paternal lines. In all three studies, the researchers focused on rare genetic glitches called de novo mutations.
De novo mutations are not inherited but occur spontaneously near or during conception. Most people have at least one, and the majority of them are harmless.
In one of the new studies, Dr. Matthew W. State, a professor of genetics and child psychiatry at Yale, led a team that looked for de novo mutations in 200 people who had been given an autism diagnosis, as well as in parents and siblings who showed no signs of the disorder. The team found that two unrelated children with autism in the study had de novo mutations in the same gene — and nothing similar in those without a diagnosis.
“That is like throwing a dart at a dart board with 21,000 spots and hitting the same one twice,” Dr. State said. “The chances that this gene is related to autism risk is something like 99.9999 percent.”
More here. [New York Times]
“De novo mutations revealed by whole-exome sequencing are strongly associated with autism” [Nature, abstract available]