I actually hadn’t seen this one yet, made me laugh!
Evolution at work!
The ferocious Tasmanian devil is being done in by cancer: In just 20 years, the endangered animal has lost 80% of its population to a contagious version called devil facial tumor disease (DFTD). The animal’s highly social yet fierce temperament—not unlike its cartoon counterpart—has helped the disease spread. But many populations that were predicted to have gone extinct by now are still kicking (and biting). To find out why, scientists looked at hundreds of devil genomes from three different sites in Tasmania and compared them with genomes from animals living decades ago, when DFTD hadn’t yet run rampant. They found that the modern survivors had changes in seven genes, five of which are related to cancer or immune function in other mammals, including humans. Based on their functions in other species, the scientists think those genes might be protecting them from cancer by helping the devil immune system recognize DFTD, they write online today in Nature Communications.
Source: sciencemag.org
Anonymous asked:
Hi, I'm Canadian and I hear a lot about A levels on Tumblr. What are they?? Are they British?? :)
Hey there!
A levels are what kids in the UK do just before university from the ages of about 17 - 18. You need them to get into uni and most people do three and half or four. We have other things you can do in order to get into uni such as BTECs, diplomas and the IB as well, but I’d say A levels are the most common qualification used to get into uni.
Hope that answers your question,
Sam
Congratulations to everyone receiving their A level results today!
From all of us here at 23pairsofchromosomes, we wish you all the best. Feel free to let us know how you did and what your plans are for the future! We hope you’ve all achieved your goals and are moving ever closer towards your aspirations.
~Everyone
When Dogs Lose their Will to Wag
‘Limber tail’ is a painful condition affecting large working dog breeds, such as Labrador Retrievers.
To find out more about the cause, a team of researchers reviewed cases of limber tail with the owners - noticing a few trends.
They discovered that dogs suffering from limber tail were more likely to be working dogs, live in northern areas in the UK, and be related to each other. Further studies are now needed to identify the genes associated with the condition.
The symptoms can be distressing for the animal, but usually resolve within a few days or weeks.
This is the first large-scale investigation of limber tail conducted as part of the Dogslife Project; which follows the health and wellbeing of more than 6000 Labradors across the UK to improve animal welfare.
ALS-linked gene found switched on in new bits of the brain
ALS, also known as Motor Neuron Disease, is a fatal neurodegenerative condition for which we don’t have a cure and don’t fully understand.
We do know that a gene called C9orf72 is often involved, and many patients have abnormal repeated sequences within the gene causing neurons in the brain to die. The gene is also implicated in a type of dementia called Frontotemporal Dementia (FTD).
Now scientists studying it in mouse brains have found it is switched on in two regions that we didn’t know about before.
They discovered that C9orf72 is strongly expressed in the hippocampus - containing adult stem cells and which is important for memory - and the olfactory bulb - which is involved in the sense of smell.
Loss of smell is sometimes a symptom in FTD.
The University of Bath team hope the findings will help researchers gain a better understanding of C9orf72 ′s role in both diseases and help map where it is switched on and off as the brain develops.
This could help us figure out new ways to slow down, treat or even cure the symptoms and explain why people born with abnormalities in C9orf72 don’t develop symptoms until decades after birth.
Images: Andrew L Bashford and Vasanta Subramanian
The top and bottom images show mouse cerebellum stained to reveal the Purkinje neurons (green).
The middle image shows the dentate gyrus of the mouse hippocampal formation, which contributes to the formation of new memories stained for neurons (green) and stem cells (red).
Are birds man’s best friend?
They say dog is man’s best friend, but would you believe a bird could assume the title of ‘loyal companion’?
A certain type of bird is earning the title in and amongst parts of Africa. A wax-eating bird called the greater honeyguide works together with people to find wild bees’ nest. This relationship is vital between human and bird because it provides a valuable resource to both. It’s also the first time this kind of ‘human-bird’ relationship has been described. During the honey hunting season, Honeyguides give a special call to attract people’s attention, then fly from tree to tree to indicate the direction of a bees’ nest. Local honey hunters follow the birds, subdue the stinging bees with smoke and chop open their nest. The end result provides wax to both the honeyguide and humans.
Image credit: Dr Claire Spottiswoode/University of Cambridge
The Bacteria of the London Underground
If you’ve ever been to London, then you’ve probably at least heard horror stories of the cramped and uncomfortable conditions that Londoner’s are faced with when the tube lines are busy. However the person who just stuck a sweaty armpit in your face isn’t the only cause for concern on the underground.
More than 1.34 billion passengers ride the tube each year, and each of them transport millions of bacteria on their journey. All of that human movement provides a perfect transport system for these little bugs to travel rapidly from one part of London to another within minutes. Should we be worried about what health problems this may pose?
Well a team was sent into the underground to swab surfaces to uncover what monstrosities lurk down there. The image above shows the results of their findings. The line that comes out on top of all others is the Northern line, harbouring 1,647 CFU/10 cm^2. This means that for every 10 cm^2, over 1,600 viable bacterial cells were happily surviving and making themselves at home. This was nearly three times as many bacterial cells than seen within the central line, which came in second place.
The team also looked at identifying the most contaminated tube stations. Stratford was found to take home the gold, although it is only the 7th busiest station in London.
They also found that the most bacteria contaminated surfaces were unsurprisingly the surfaces that are in contact with a lot of humans on a daily basis. This included: the ticket machines, the barriers, the seats, escalators, and the metal poles within the tubes themselves.
So what does this all mean for you commute home? There is probably no need to run out and buy hand sanitiser. In reality, we’re surrounded by bacteria all the time, and just because the tube has high levels of viable cells does not necessarily mean that all of these organisms are bad for you. This study only quantified what was growing in the depths of the underground and did not identify probable disease causing species. That being said, the group do still recommend that you maintain good personal hygiene on a daily basis to ensure that you do not contract anything nasty.
Read more: Mind the Germs
So what caused the bright green pool at Rio2016?
Some of you who have been keeping up with the Olympics may have noticed the bright green pool that was used for the synchronised diving yesterday. This was a shock to most people as the pool used for water polo situated right next to it, remained perfectly clear blue.
It is believed that because the pool is situated outside, the intense UV rays from the sun led to the breakdown of the chlorinated disinfectants used to keep the water clean. This combined with the warm and calm environment of the water provided the perfect conditions for an algal bloom.
Algal blooms can be very dangerous, as these cyanobacteria can produce toxins that are damaging to aquatic life. Recent notable blooms include the 2016 bloom in Florida that closed several beaches and the 2014 bloom in Ohio that poisoned the water supply of 500 000 people. However divers were assured that the algae posed no threat to their health.
Mind over muscle: what limits human performance?
The Rio Olympics will see athletes pushing their bodies to physical extremes. But what determines the limits for athletes? Does nonstop exercise limit performance because “the mind would, but the muscles can’t”? Or does a person stop because the “muscles could, but the mind won’t”?
When hit with this ‘central fatigue’, the central nervous system limits performance by losing the will to carry on. Even in athletic people, two-legged exercise becomes limited when only a tiny fraction – perhaps just 5% – of the active muscle mass is exhausted of its energy reserves. Why can’t the other 95% meet the call for action?
Researchers at the University of Leeds and University of Liverpool, together with the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute in California, are developing new tools and using advanced MRI imaging techniques to explore the relationship between mind and body in limiting endurance exercise performance, comparing older and younger people in the process.
The findings are being used to develop new therapies to reduce central fatigue, and increase the capacity for physical activity to maintain healthy living.
Image credit: Bottom - Faculty of Medicine NTNU
Are colour-changing octopuses really colourblind?
Cephalopods, including octopuses and squid, have some of the most incredible colour-changing abilities in nature.
They can almost instantly blend in with their surroundings to evade predators or lay in wait, and put on colourful displays to attract mates or dazzle potential prey.
This is impressive enough on its own, but becomes even more amazing when you discover these creatures are in fact colourblind – they only have one type of light receptor in their eyes, meaning they can only see in black and white.
So how do they know what colours to change to at all?
This has puzzled biologists for decades but a father/son team of scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and Harvard University think the unusual shape of their pupils holds the key, and they can see colour after all.
Cephalopods have wide U-shaped or dumbbell-shaped pupils, which allow light into the lens from many directions.
When light enters the pupils in human eyes it gets focused on one spot, cutting down on blur from the light being split into its constituent colours.
The scientists believe cephalopod eyes work the opposite way – the wide pupils split the light up and then individual colours can be focused on the retina by changing the depth of the eyeball and moving the pupil around.
The price for this is blurry vision, but it does mean they could make out colours in a unique way to any other animals.
Processing colour this way is more computationally intensive than other types of colour vision and likely requires a lot of brainpower, which might explain in part why cephalopods are the most intelligent invertebrates on Earth.
Images: Roy Caldwell, Klaus Stiefel, Alexander Stubbs
The Gland that has got a Secrete Secret
This article will focus on one of the more important glads of the human body; the thyroid. This article will focus on the anatomy and physiology, biochemistry and clinical aspects of the thyroid, hopefully giving our readers a better understanding of this organ.
The Thyroid
Situated on the ventral side of the neck, the thyroid gland is composed of two lobes: right and left that are situated anterolaterally to the trachea. It normally weighs 15 to 20 grams in adults (1), but despite its small size, it is responsible for producing two important bodily hormones.
Follicular cells in the thyroid gland mainly produce the prohormone thyroxine (T4), and a smaller amount of the active hormone, triiodothyronine (T3). Most T4 is converted to T3 in other tissues by thyroxine-specific deiodinase enzymes, activating it when it reaches its target site.
Figure 1. Showing the molecular structure of T3 (left) and T4 (right).
T3 and T4 from thyroid gland to target tissue
Synthesised T3 and T4 diffuse out of follicular cells and enter a blood vessel. Almost all secreted T3 and T4 circulating the bloodstream are bound to proteins; the major binding protein being thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG). A TBG-blood test(2) may be used to diagnose problems with the thyroid such as hypothyroidism, a clinical condition where insufficient production of thyroid hormone occurs.
Free T3 and T4 enter cells by active transport, an energy-dependent transport method. As discussed above, organ tissues with high blood flow (such as liver, skeletal muscles and kidney) possess enzyme deiodinase and catalyses most of the conversion of T3 and T4. Other tissues with low local T3 generation may depend on these tissues to obtain sufficient levels of T3.
At the physiological level
The most important role of thyroid hormones are to control basal metabolic rate (BMR). BMR refers to the basal rate of oxygen consumption and heat production. Normally, mitochondria generate energy by oxidative phosphorylation. During this process, the energy from protons (H+) moving down a proton gradient is used to generate ATP (the energy currency of the cell). This is a similar process to the momentum of water being harnessed by water wheels in old mills.However, a special type of protein, called the uncoupling protein (UCP), is found exclusively in brown adipose tissue (BAT). Mitochondria in these cells can provide an alternative pathway for protons to travel back inside the mitochondria, down their proton gradient. This alternative pathway results in no ATP production with the energy being dissipated as heat.(4)
In the cardiovascular system, thyroid hormones increase the gene expression for β1-adrenergic receptors in cardiac muscle cells and increase the responsiveness of these cells towards β adrenergic activity. The overall effect increases the force of myocardium contraction (positive inotropy) and rate of heart muscle contraction (positive chronotropy), increasing cardiac output and blood vessel dilation in the skin, muscle and heart. The hormone increases tissue sensitivity to beta adrenergic hormones, increasing the heart rate and force of contraction.
Thyroxine hormone also affects the other systems such as the respiratory system, skeletal system, reproduction and nervous system. However, the most important functions of thyroid hormone are the regulation of BMR, maturation and development of nervous system and increase responsiveness of tissue to adrenergic activity.
Mechanism of thyroid hormone
The steps below correspond to the numbers in Figure 2.
1) T3 diffuses into the cytosol and subsequently into the nucleus (8). 2)Thyroid hormone receptor (TR) is located in the nucleus prebound to DNA. TR usually dimerises with a retinoid X receptor (RXR) and this dimer recognises and binds at a specific site on DNA known as the Thyroid Response Element (TRE). TH binds to TR leading to the dissociation of co-repressors (Figure 2). 3)At the same time, recruitment of co-activators (Figure 2) occurs. 4)The TRE mentioned in step 2 is a segment of DNA known as the refulatory sequence, a segment of DNA that increases or decreases the expression of specific genes. In this case, when the T3 binds to the TR-RXR dimer, and the TRE may activate or repress the target genes.
Figure 2. Diagram shows a schematic diagram of the general biochemical action of thyroid hormones on the target DNA
Transcription is followed by RNA translation to form hundreds of new intracellular proteins. T3 changes the rate of expression for hundreds of genes and increases or decreases the production of structural and functional proteins which may be the key molecules in different metabolic processes. T4 also performs such function, but is less potent than its counterpart T3.
With such function, one can imagine just how important the level of thyroid hormone is in the regulation of different physiological processes and how this may impact upon health (9)
Regulation Of Thyroid Hormone Production And Secretion
A hormone with such varied functionality has to be regulated to ensure its adequately supplied to targeted organs. Such intricate control has to be performed by the “endocrine master”; the hypothalamus. The hypothalamus releases thyrotropin hormone (TRH), which stimulates the release of thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) in the closely linked anterior lobe of pituitary gland. TSH is then transported in the blood where it binds to the TSH receptor on the thyroid gland. TSH speeds up the production and release of thyroid hormones, promoting the growth of the gland with the help of some other growth factors.
When thyroid hormone levels are in excess, circulating molecules act on the hypothalamus and pituitary gland to decrease TRH and TSH secretion respectively. The mechanism involved is a negative-feedback control mechanism. When TRH and TSH secretion decrease, so does the production and the secretion of thyroid hormones. The hormones drop until the optimal physiological level whereby the inhibitions on TRH and TSH secretion are lifted (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Image shows the regulation of thyroid hormone by the hypothalamus and pituitary gland in a negative-feedback loop.
Diseases Related To Thyroid Gland
T3 (Figure 1) contains three iodine atoms. The synthesis of thyroid hormones requires an adequate supply of dietary iodine. The recommended dietary allowance (RDA) for iodine in an adult male is 150µg and slightly higher in pregnant women, 220µg (5). Deficiency of this precursor leads to insufficient production of T3 and T4. The consequences of this are low levels of circulating thyroid hormones which cause an increase of TSH secretion from the pituitary gland interfering with the negative feedback. Increased stimulation of TSH increases the activity of the thyroid gland in an attempt to normalize thyroid hormone level (6). Consequently the gland grows larger than the normal size, producing a condition known as a goitre(Figure 4).
A goitre refers to the enlargement of the thyroid gland (Figure 4), this could be due to hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Goitres are more common in population living in mountainous regions, where access to iodine sources such as seafood are restricted. Such dietary deficiency can be prevented by adding small amounts of iodine to table salt.
Figure 4. Image showing a patient presenting a goitre.
Conclusion
Hopefully after reading this article, you’re a little more in the know about the little gland secretlysecreting hormones to help you stay healthy. Next time you’re calorie counting or checking the nutritional content of your food, make sure that you’re getting enough iodine in your diet as it can ensure that you don’t end up with a large number of problems down the line.
Plantibodies and Plant-Derived Edible Vaccines
Throughout history, humans have used plants in the treatment of disease. This includes more traditional methods involving direct consumption with minimal preparation involved and the extraction of compounds for use in modern pharmaceuticals. One of the more recent methods of using plants in medicine involves the synthesis and application of plantibodies and plant produced antigens. These are recombinant antibodies and antigens respectively, which have been produced by a genetically modified plant (1, 2).
Antibodies are a diverse set of proteins which serve the purpose of aiding the body in eliminating foreign pathogens. They are secreted by effector B lymphocytes which are a type of white blood cell that circulate throughout the body. An antigen is a molecule or a component of a molecule, such as a protein or carbohydrate, which can stimulate an immune response. The human body is capable of producing around 1012 different types of antibodies, each of which can bind to a specific antigen or a small group of related motifs (3). When an antibody encounters the antigen of a foreign pathogen to which it has high affinity, it binds to it which can disable it or alert the immune system for its destruction (4).
Plants do not normally produce antibodies and thus must be genetically modified to produce plantibodies as well as foreign protein antigens. Plantibodies produced in this manner function the same way as the antibodies native to the human body (1). The main ways to do this are to stably integrate foreign DNA into a host cell and place it into a plant embryo resulting in a permanent change of the nuclear genome, or to induce transient gene expression of the specified protein (5). In both cases, the genetic material introduced to the plant codes for the protein of choice. Several of the methods used to induce permanent transgene expression include agrobacterium-mediated transformation, particle bombardment using a gene gun, or the transformation of organelles such as chloroplasts. Transient transgene expression can be done using plant viruses as viral vectors or agroinfiltration (2). Once the genetic material has been inserted, the specified protein is produced via the plant endomembrane and secretory systems, after which it can be recovered through purification of the plant tissue to be used for injection (1). The production of these proteins can also be directed to specific organs of the plant such as the seeds using targeting signals (2). Stable integration techniques are generally used for more large scale production and when the gene in question has a high level of expression, while transient techniques are used to produce a greater yield in the short term (5).
Now how can plantibodies and plant produced antigens help us as humans? The primary purpose of producing plantibodies is for the treatment of disease via immunotherapy. Immunotherapy is a method of treatment in which one’s immune response to a particular disease is enhanced. Specific plantibodies can be produced in order to target a particular disease and then be applied to patients via injection as a means of treatment (6). Doing so provides a boost to the number of antibodies against the targeted disease in the patient’s body which helps to enhance their immune system response against it. An example of this is CaroRx, the first clinically tested plantibody which has the ability to bind to Streptococcus mutans. CaroRx has been shown to be effective in the treatment of tooth decay caused by this species of bacteria (1). More recently, a plantibody known as ZMapp has shown potential in the treatment of Ebola. A study by Qiu et al showed that when administered up to 5 days after the onset of the disease, 100% of rhesus macaques that were administered the drug were shown to have recovered from its effects while all of the control group animals perished as a result of the disease (7). In addition, it has been experimentally administered to some humans who later recovered from the disease, although its role in their recovery was not fully ascertained (8).
Plant produced antigens on the other hand can be used to produce oral vaccines (9). Vaccines are typically biological mixtures containing a weakened pathogen and its antigens. Injection of this results in priming of the body’s adaptive immune system against the particular pathogen so that it can more easily recognize and respond to the threat in the future (4). By producing the antigens of targeted pathogens in plants through transgenic expression, edible vaccines can be created if the plant used is safe to eat. Tobacco, potato, and tomato plants have typically been used in past attempts to create them, showing success in both animal studies and a number of human trials. The advantages of using an oral vaccine include ease of administration and lower costs since specialised personel are not required for administration (9). In addition, oral vaccines are more effective in providing immunity against pathogens at mucosal surfaces as they can be directly applied to the gastrointestinal tract (1). The primary issue with the usage of oral vaccines is that protein antigens must avoid degradation in the stomach and intestines before they can reach the targeted sites in the body. Several solutions to this dilemma include using other biological structures such as liposomes and proteasomes as a means of delivery. This helps to prevent the proteins from being degraded by digestive enzymes and the acidic environment of the stomach before they can reach their destination (1, 9).
There are a number of advantages to using these plant based pharmaceuticals. First of all, they can be produced on a large scale at a relatively low cost through agriculture and are convenient for long-term storage due to the resiliency and size of plant seeds (5). There is also a low risk of contamination by mammalian viruses, blood borne pathogens, and oncogenes which can remove the need for expensive removal steps (1). In addition, purification steps can be skipped if the plants used are edible and ethical problems that come with animal production can be avoided (5). The disadvantages include the potential for allergic reactions to plant antigens and contamination by pesticides and herbicides. There is also the possibility of outcrossing of transgenic pollen to weeds or related crops which would lead to non-target crops also expressing the pharmaceutical.This could lead to public concern along with the potential that other species which ingest these plants may be negatively affected (9). While plantibodies and plant produced antigens have not yet been extensively tested in clinical trials, going forward they represent a new treatment option with great promise.
References
1. Jain P, Pandey P, Jain D, Dwivedi P. Plantibody: An overview. Asian journal of Pharmacy and Life Science. 2011 Jan;1(1):87-94.
2. Stoger E, Sack M, Fischer R, Christou P. Plantibodies: applications, advantages and bottlenecks. Current Opinion in Biotechnology. 2002 Apr 1;13(2):161-166.
3. Alberts B, Johnson A, Lewis J, Raff M, Roberts K, Walter P. Molecular Biology of the Cell. 4th Edition. New York: Garland Science; 2002.
4. Parham P. The immune system. 4th Edition. New York: Garland Science; 2014.
5. Ferrante E, Simpson D. A review of the progression of transgenic plants used to produce plantibodies for human usage. J. Young Invest. 2001;4:1-0.
6. Smith MD. Antibody production in plants. Biotechnology advances. 1996 Dec 31;14(3):267-81.
7. Qiu X, Wong G, Audet J, Bello A, Fernando L, Alimonti JB, Fausther-Bovendo H, Wei H, Aviles J, Hiatt E, Johnson A. Reversion of advanced Ebola virus disease in nonhuman primates with ZMapp. Nature. 2014 Aug 29.
8. Sneed A. Know the Jargon. Scientific american. 2014 Dec 1;311(6):24-24.
9. Daniell H, Streatfield SJ, Wycoff K. Medical molecular farming: production of antibodies, biopharmaceuticals and edible vaccines in plants. Trends in plant science. 2001 May 1;6(5):219-26.
The gut bacteria inside 1000-year-old mummies from the Inca Empire are resistant to most of today’s antibiotics, even though we only discovered these drugs within the last 100 years.
“At first we were very surprised,” Tasha Santiago-Rodriguez of California Polytechnic State University in San Louis Opisbo, told the Annual Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology last month.
Her team studied the DNA within the guts of three Incan mummies dating back to between the 10th and 14thcenturies and six mummified people from Italy, from between the 15th and 18th centuries. They found an array of genes that have the potential to resist almost all modern antibiotics, including penicillin, vancomycin and tetracycline.
These ancient genes were largely in microbes whose resistance is problematic today, including Enteroccocus bacteria that can infect wounds and cause urinary tract infections. But they found that many other species, including some harmless ones, carried some of these resistant genes too.
Enterococcus enigma
“When you think about it, almost all these antibiotics are naturally produced, so it makes sense to find antibiotic genes as well,” says Santiago-Rodriguez.
Their finding shows that genes that can confer resistance to antibiotics were relatively widespread hundreds of years before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928. “It’s ridiculous to think evolution of antibiotic resistance began when penicillin was discovered,” said team-member Raul Cano, also at California Polytechnic State University, at the meeting while discussing the findings. “It’s been going on for 2 billion years.”
These genes existed long before antibiotics became common, but it is our overuse of these drugs in both people and livestock that caused the superbug resistance to explode worldwide, said Cano.
“This is exciting data,” says Adam Roberts, who studies antibiotic resistance genes at University College London. While it is already well known that antibiotic resistance occurred naturally before people started using antibiotics, this study shows that resistance genes were already within the human gut long before we started using these drugs, he says.
“It begs the question of what was selecting for these genes at this time? Was it the natural production of antibiotics by other bacteria, or were there other, as yet unknown forces at play?” asks Roberts.
Certainly not a wild-type.
The Autumn Leaves, drift by my window, the autumn leaves of red and gold…
I know its a bit early to post this, but its always a good time to learn about autumnal botany!
Autumn is probably my favourite time of year and this is the reason why!
Will Antibiotics-Resistant Superbugs Kill us All?
The answer to that is most likely no, however drug-resistant bacteria are rapidly becoming one of the 21st century’s greatest threats to public health. ~20 000 people die from complication due to drug-resistant bacteria each year in the US alone, and this number is only going to rise with the evolution of new and more virulent strains of bacteria. But how do these bugs go about developing this resistance to the drugs we throw at them?
Water fleas can thwart their enemies by growing defensive structures such as helmets and spines. What’s more, this predator-induced ‘arming’ process is not a one-size-fits-all approach - they can even tailor their defensive responses to the types of predators present.
How are water fleas (Daphnia) able to do this and how does it impact the ecosystems of ponds and lakes? Dr Linda Weiss at Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany, who is leading this research explains: “As they grow up and moult, juvenile Daphnia can develop formidable 'armour’, including helmets, spines or crests, when they detect specific chemical cues in the water left by predators such as fish, phantom midge larvae and backswimmers. These defences are speculated to act like an anti-lock key system, which means that they somehow interfere with the predator’s feeding apparatus. Many freshwater fish can only eat small prey so, for example, Daphnia lumholtzi grows head and tail spines to make eating them more difficult.”
Caption:Undefended Daphnia longicephala (left) is compared with the defended phenotype (right). The defended phenotype has a large crest as well as elongated tail spines in response to chemical cues from the backswimmer Notonecta glauca. Credit: Dr Linda Weiss
Source: eurekalert.org
A new study has found evidence that brain tumours use fat as their preferred source of energy, bringing into question the decades-long assumption that sugar is their main fuel source.
If confirmed, this could fundamentally change the we treat cancer in the future, because until very recently, scientists have been focussing their efforts on ways to starve cancer cells of their sugar supply.
“For 60 years, we have believed all tumours rely on sugars for their energy source, and the brain relies on sugars for its energy source, so you certainly would think brain tumours would,” lead researcher Elizabeth Stoll, a neuroscientist from Newcastle University in the UK, told Ian Johnston at The Independent.
Read more…