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Category: genetics

The standard gene-editing tool, CRISPR-Cas9, frequently produces a type of DNA mutation that ordinary genetic analysis misses, claims new research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). In describing these findings the researchers called such oversights “serious pitfalls” of gene editing (Skryabin et al., 2020). In all, the new results suggest that gene-editing is more error-prone than thought and, further, that identifying and discarding defective and unwanted outcomes is not as easy as generally supposed.

Gene-editing is more error-prone than thought, new findings suggest

CRISPR Enzyme on DNA (Photo: MIT News)

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Excerpts from Dr. David Sinclair appearances during 2019 and early 2020. The focus I highlight in this compilation is around the research in progress on aging, age-related diseases and biological age reversal.

Dr. Sinclair is a well-known geneticist, researcher and professor, first at MIT and since more than two decades ago, at Harvard University.

Links of original sources:

Joe Rogan Experience (Sep 2019): https://youtu.be/ZGLL77wYxe8

Rhonda Patrick interview (Nov 2019): https://youtu.be/5DtWqzalEnc

EdMylett interview (Dec 2019): https://youtu.be/-wApz_zqQIQ

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That bees are downright awesome is not up for debate. After all, they pollinate about a third of all the crops that we consume and help to support ecosystems worldwide. Yet the bees are in trouble, with a phenomenon known as colony collapse disorder (CCD) causing an alarming drop in numbers. Fortunately, a solution may be on the horizon in the form of genetically modified bacteria.

One thing that is a topic of great debate is the cause of CCD. Some studies point the finger at a particular class of pesticides called neonicotinoids, although many within the scientific community agree that multiple factors are probably at play.

What we do know is that CCD first became an issue once the Varroa mite became widespread, largely thanks to a global trade in European honeybees that brought them into contact with Asian parasites. At first, it was assumed that the mites were simply killing bees by sucking on their blood, although it later transpired that they also carried the lethal deformed wing virus (DWV), transmitting it into the bloodstream of the bees they feasted on.

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One of the most remarkable characteristics of the vertebrate eye is its retina. Surprisingly, the sensitive portions of the photoreceptor cells are found on the hind side of the retina, meaning that light needs to travel through living neural tissue before it can be detected. While the origin of the high optical quality of the retina remain largely uninvestigated, it has long been proposed that a peculiar DNA organization would serve to improve vision in nocturnal mammals. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden now showed that the optical quality of the mouse retina increases in the first month after birth that imparts improved visual sensitivity under low light conditions. This improvement is caused by a compact organization of the genetic material in the cell nucleus of rod photoreceptor cells that responsible for dim light vision.

Our retina is an amazing feature of the eye of vertebrates. This -sensitive layer of is lining the back of the eye-ball and acts as a screen for images projected by the lens. The retina has a thickness of 130 to 500 micrometer and is composed of five layers of dense . Since the sensitive portions of the photoreceptor cells are found on the hind side of the retina, light needs to travel through this dense neural tissue to reach the photoreceptors. Researchers suggested that a certain compact arrangement of DNA in the cell nucleus of the rod photoreceptors could improve night vision in nocturnal animals but it remained unclear if and how would benefit from this organization of genetic material.

Scientists around the research group leader Moritz Kreysing at the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics together with colleagues from the TU Dresden and the Biozentrum at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität in Munich wanted to find out, if and why cells of retinal neural cells are optically special and what the implications for the transparency of the retina are. Transparency in this context means that each rod cell scatters less light, which causes it to be more transparent.

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The CRISPR Handbook – Enabling Genome Editing and Transforming Life Science Research is GenScript’s comprehensive guide to the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing revolution. This new resource includes:

An introductory history of genome editing. The current applications for CRISPR/Cas9 in genome editing. An updated overview of expanded CRISPR research applications, including immunoprecipitation, epigenetic modification, live imaging, and therapeutics. New CRISPR/Cas9 workflows and case studies to help you start using this technology in your research.

CRISPR Handbook – Enabling Genome Editing and Transforming Life Science Research. Free PDF download on the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing revolution, including CRISPR KO & KI workflows, case studies, and references.

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The Neolithic revolution, and the corresponding transition to agricultural and pastoralist lifestyles, represents one of the greatest cultural shifts in human history, and it has long been hypothesized that this might have also provided the opportunity for the emergence of human-adapted diseases. A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution led by Felix M. Key, Alexander Herbig, and Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History studied human remains excavated across Western Eurasia and reconstructed eight ancient Salmonella enterica genomes—all part of a related group within the much larger diversity of modern S. enterica. These results illuminate what was likely a serious health concern in the past and reveal how this bacterial pathogen evolved over a period of 6,500 years.

Searching for ancient pathogens

Most do not cause any lasting impact on the skeleton, which can make identifying affected archaeological remains difficult for scientists. In order to identify past diseases and reconstruct their histories, researchers have turned to genetic techniques. Using a newly developed bacterial screening pipeline called HOPS, Key and colleagues were able to overcome many of the challenges of finding ancient pathogens in metagenomics data.

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WASHINGTON: Scientists have found that people who have a variant of a longevity gene have improved brain skills such as thinking, learning and memory. Researchers found that increasing levels of the gene, called KLOTHO, in mice made them smarter, possibly by increasing the strength of connections between nerve cells in the brain.

“This could be a major step toward helping millions around the world who are suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias,” said Dena Dubal, an assistant professor of neurology, the David A Coulter Endowed Chair in Aging and Neurodegeneration at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) and the lead author of the study published in Cell Reports. “If we could boost the brain’s ability to function, we may be able to counter dementias,” Dubal said.

People who have one copy of a variant, or form, of the KLOTHO gene, called KL-VS, tend to live longer and have lower chances of suffering a stroke whereas people who have two copies may live shorter lives and have a higher risk of stroke. In the study, researchers found that people who had one copy of the KL-VS variant performed better on a battery of cognitive tests than subjects who did not have it, regardless of age, sex or the presence of the apolipoprotein 4 gene, the main genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease.

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A new study of the genetic history of Sardinia, a Mediterranean island off the western coast of Italy, tells how genetic ancestry on the island was relatively stable through the end of the Bronze Age, even as mainland Europe saw new ancestries arrive. The study further details how the island’s genetic ancestry became more diverse and interconnected with the Mediterranean starting in the Iron Age, as Phoenician, Punic, and eventually Roman peoples began arriving to the island.

The research, published in Nature Communications, analyzed genome-wide DNA data for 70 individuals from more than 20 Sardinian archaeological sites spanning roughly 6,000 years from the Middle Neolithic through the Medieval period. No previous study has used genome-wide DNA extracted from ancient remains to look at the population history of Sardinia.

“Geneticists have been studying the people of Sardinia for a long time, but we haven’t known much about their past,” said the senior author John Novembre, Ph.D., a leading computational biologist at the Univeristy of Chicago who studies genetic diversity in natural populations. “There have been clues that Sardinia has a particularly interesting genetic history, and understanding this history could also have relevance to larger questions about the peopling of the Mediterranean.”

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Do you agree.

In addition, gene-editing technologies continue to advance in precision and ease of use, allowing families to treat and ultimately cure hundreds of inheritable genetic diseases.

This metatrend is driven by the convergence of: various biotechnologies (CRISPR, Gene Therapy), genome sequencing, and artificial intelligence.

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Gene editing holds promise for the treatment of cancers that are driven by well-characterised molecular alterations. A study now provides a proof of concept for the feasibility of in vivo gene editing to correct TERT mutations in glioblastoma, providing a platform for the direct manipulation of genetic alterations to reduce tumour growth.

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