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Does the villainous 'selfish' gene undermine genome's police?Public release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Orenstein david_orenstein@brown.edu 401-863-1862 Brown University
Genetics paper a new entry in the Segregation Distorter saga
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] For a bunch of inanimate chemical compounds, the nucleic and amino acids caught up in the infamous "selfish" segregation distorter (SD) saga have put on quite a soap opera for biologists since the phenomenon was discovered in fruit flies 50 years ago. A new study, a highlight in the March issue of the journal Genetics, provides the latest plot twist.
In TV listings the series would be described this way: "A gene exploits a rival gene's excesses, sabotaging any sperm that bear the rival's chromosome." The listing is not an exaggeration except for ascribing malicious intent to strings of biochemicals. When male flies make their sperm, the SD gene (call it "A") manages to rig meiosis the specialized cell division that makes sex cells so that maturing sperm that bear chromosomes with the susceptible allele (call that one "a") end up defective and discarded. They never even leave the testes.
It is murder of a sort. Similar selfish systems occur in mammals, including humans.
In the Genetics study conducted at Brown University, scientists uncover new clues about how the SD gene might be gaming the system against "a." It's a plot so fiendish, only an aggregation of genetic bases could evolve it. It also deepens biologists' understanding of an instance in which life violates a fundamental balance predicted by the father of genetics, Gregor Mendel.
"Mendel's first law is that different alleles of a gene will segregate," said Robert Reeenan, professor of biology and the study's senior author. "If we have two alleles big A and little a then Mendel says 50 percent of the sperm at random will get the big A and 50 percent of the sperm will get the little a. But some SD (A) alleles are so strong they pretty much kill off all the non-SD (a) chromosomes.
"This is a real cheater, a real stinker," Reenan said. "Most genes, like most people, are good upstanding citizens, but some genes want to hog all the resources, hog all the benefit."
The SD backstory
What makes the "a" allele susceptible to SD's subterfuge is the number of copies it harbors of a runaway snippet of genetic code called Responder. A few copies of Responder are no problem, but hundreds of copies make "a" susceptible. Some alleles have thousands of copies and only one in a thousand survives.
Genomes try to root out parasites like Responder by creating and dispatching proteins into the nucleus and the cytoplasm. These police proteins are armed with "police sketches" of the parasites in the form of small RNA transcripts.
The new plot twist
It struck Reenan and lead author Selena Gell that this policing system because it targets self-copiers like Responder might somehow have a role in the SD saga. They decided to find out by purposely perturbing the system.
In the experiments described in Genetics, Reenan and Gell show that engineered mutations in the police gene named Aubergine (others on the force in the experiments are called Piwi, Squash, and Zucchini) amplify SD chromosomes' success in eliminating Responder-laden sperm, compared to that of SD chromosomes without Aubergine's help. The results show that this police system suppresses Responder, and therefore SD. It also means that if SD somehow can upset the policing system, it can have a field day.
"We're the first to have experimentally shown that mutations in the system can modify the degree of distortion," Reenan said. "We used homologous recombination to knock in a mutation specifically on the SD chromosome to compromise Aubergine, and that's exactly what we saw: the chromosome became more selfish."
Reenan and Gell did not go so far as to determine whether known SD-promoting genes called Enhancer of SD, Stabilizer of SD, and Modifier of SD act by interfering with Aubergine or its buddies on the force, but Reenan said that is among the next things his group will look into.
In the meantime, he reflects, it may not be entirely fair for biologists to label SD as "selfish" and not Responder as well. As an out-of-control self-repeater in the genome, Responder is surely no prize, and SD performs something of a service by taking it out when it can.
The whole story is really a clash of the selfish. "Humans, flies, all of us have been attacked for millennia by selfish genetic elements that want to make as many copies as possible," Reenan said.
Sometimes, as in SD flies, there are no apparent ill effects, but when the selfish genes come in the form of viruses or other kinds of transposons, there can be trouble. So investigating the tactics of selfish genes is not merely the stuff of biological soap operas.
###
Gell, who was supported by a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship during the research, is now a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Does the villainous 'selfish' gene undermine genome's police?Public release date: 5-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: David Orenstein david_orenstein@brown.edu 401-863-1862 Brown University
Genetics paper a new entry in the Segregation Distorter saga
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] For a bunch of inanimate chemical compounds, the nucleic and amino acids caught up in the infamous "selfish" segregation distorter (SD) saga have put on quite a soap opera for biologists since the phenomenon was discovered in fruit flies 50 years ago. A new study, a highlight in the March issue of the journal Genetics, provides the latest plot twist.
In TV listings the series would be described this way: "A gene exploits a rival gene's excesses, sabotaging any sperm that bear the rival's chromosome." The listing is not an exaggeration except for ascribing malicious intent to strings of biochemicals. When male flies make their sperm, the SD gene (call it "A") manages to rig meiosis the specialized cell division that makes sex cells so that maturing sperm that bear chromosomes with the susceptible allele (call that one "a") end up defective and discarded. They never even leave the testes.
It is murder of a sort. Similar selfish systems occur in mammals, including humans.
In the Genetics study conducted at Brown University, scientists uncover new clues about how the SD gene might be gaming the system against "a." It's a plot so fiendish, only an aggregation of genetic bases could evolve it. It also deepens biologists' understanding of an instance in which life violates a fundamental balance predicted by the father of genetics, Gregor Mendel.
"Mendel's first law is that different alleles of a gene will segregate," said Robert Reeenan, professor of biology and the study's senior author. "If we have two alleles big A and little a then Mendel says 50 percent of the sperm at random will get the big A and 50 percent of the sperm will get the little a. But some SD (A) alleles are so strong they pretty much kill off all the non-SD (a) chromosomes.
"This is a real cheater, a real stinker," Reenan said. "Most genes, like most people, are good upstanding citizens, but some genes want to hog all the resources, hog all the benefit."
The SD backstory
What makes the "a" allele susceptible to SD's subterfuge is the number of copies it harbors of a runaway snippet of genetic code called Responder. A few copies of Responder are no problem, but hundreds of copies make "a" susceptible. Some alleles have thousands of copies and only one in a thousand survives.
Genomes try to root out parasites like Responder by creating and dispatching proteins into the nucleus and the cytoplasm. These police proteins are armed with "police sketches" of the parasites in the form of small RNA transcripts.
The new plot twist
It struck Reenan and lead author Selena Gell that this policing system because it targets self-copiers like Responder might somehow have a role in the SD saga. They decided to find out by purposely perturbing the system.
In the experiments described in Genetics, Reenan and Gell show that engineered mutations in the police gene named Aubergine (others on the force in the experiments are called Piwi, Squash, and Zucchini) amplify SD chromosomes' success in eliminating Responder-laden sperm, compared to that of SD chromosomes without Aubergine's help. The results show that this police system suppresses Responder, and therefore SD. It also means that if SD somehow can upset the policing system, it can have a field day.
"We're the first to have experimentally shown that mutations in the system can modify the degree of distortion," Reenan said. "We used homologous recombination to knock in a mutation specifically on the SD chromosome to compromise Aubergine, and that's exactly what we saw: the chromosome became more selfish."
Reenan and Gell did not go so far as to determine whether known SD-promoting genes called Enhancer of SD, Stabilizer of SD, and Modifier of SD act by interfering with Aubergine or its buddies on the force, but Reenan said that is among the next things his group will look into.
In the meantime, he reflects, it may not be entirely fair for biologists to label SD as "selfish" and not Responder as well. As an out-of-control self-repeater in the genome, Responder is surely no prize, and SD performs something of a service by taking it out when it can.
The whole story is really a clash of the selfish. "Humans, flies, all of us have been attacked for millennia by selfish genetic elements that want to make as many copies as possible," Reenan said.
Sometimes, as in SD flies, there are no apparent ill effects, but when the selfish genes come in the form of viruses or other kinds of transposons, there can be trouble. So investigating the tactics of selfish genes is not merely the stuff of biological soap operas.
###
Gell, who was supported by a National Science Foundation Predoctoral Fellowship during the research, is now a postdoctoral scholar at Harvard University.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Bangor - Families at the Bangor Municipal Golf Course traded in golf clubs for skis.
Bangor Parks and Recreation hosted the 1st annual Penobscot Ski Bash..
Activities included speed traps, jumps, and a scavenger hunt.
The course was transformed into a cross county ski area to get families outdoors enjoying the snow.
"We really want people to love winter and get active and outside," said Healthy Hometowns Coach for Maine Winter Sports Center Lauren Jacobs. "Having a day where equipment is available to try and a lot of fun activities really helps people see how fun winter can be."
Maine Sports Center and Penobscot Valley Ski Club also helped with the event.
Organizers plan to hold the event for years to come.
The Facebook Messenger app for Android was updated today, bringing feee VoIP calling to users in Canada. This mirrors the way things were done on the iOS app, which saw support for folks in the U.S. about two weeks after it debuted in Canada. While there's no guarantee the Android app will follow the same roll-out schedule, we're going to assume that it will cross the border soon.
In addition to the new VoIP calling, the app allows group conversations to be viewed in the sidebar, and allows them to be searched by name and friends. Hit the Google Play link to update.
Mar. 3, 2013 ? A multi-university team of researchers has artificially engineered a unique multilayer material that could lead to breakthroughs in both superconductivity research and in real-world applications.
The researchers can tailor the material, which seamlessly alternates between metal and oxide layers, to achieve extraordinary superconducting properties -- in particular, the ability to transport much more electrical current than non-engineered materials.
The team includes experts from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Florida State University and the University of Michigan. Led by Chang-Beom Eom, the Harvey D. Spangler Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering and physics at UW-Madison, the group described its breakthrough March 3, 2013, in the advance online edition of the journal Nature Materials.
Superconductors, which presently operate only under extremely cold conditions, transport energy very efficiently. With the ability to transport large electrical currents and produce high magnetic fields, they power such existing technologies as magnetic resonance imaging and Maglev trains, among others. They hold great potential for emerging applications in electronic devices, transportation, and power transmission, generation and storage.
Carefully layered superconducting materials are increasingly important in highly sophisticated applications. For example, a superconducting quantum interference device, or SQUID, used to measure subtle magnetic fields in magnetoencephalography scans of the brain, is based on a three-layer material.
However, one challenge in the quest to understand and leverage superconductivity is developing materials that work at room temperature. Currently, even unconventional high-temperature superconductors operate below -369 degrees Fahrenheit.
An unconventional high-temperature superconductor, the researchers' iron-based "pnictide" material is promising in part because its effective operating temperature is higher than that of conventional superconducting materials such as niobium, lead or mercury.
The research team engineered and measured the properties of superlattices of pnictide superconductors. A superlattice is the complex, regularly repeating geometric arrangement of atoms -- its crystal structure -- in layers of two or more materials. Pnictide superconductors include compounds made from any of five elements in the nitrogen family of the periodic table.
The researchers' new material is composed of 24 layers that alternate between the pnictide superconductor and a layer of the oxide strontium titanate. Creating such systems is difficult, especially when the arrangement of atoms, and chemical compatibility, of each material is very different.
Yet, layer after layer, the researchers maintained an atomically sharp interface -- the region where materials meet. Each atom in each layer is precisely placed, spaced and arranged in a regularly repeating crystal structure.
The new material also has improved current-carrying capabilities. As they grew the superlattice, the researchers also added a tiny bit of oxygen to intentionally insert defects every few nanometers in the material. These defects act as pinning centers to immobilize tiny magnetic vortices that, as they grow in strength in large magnetic fields, can limit current flow through the superconductor. "If the vortices move around freely, the energy dissipates, and the superconductor is no longer lossless," says Eom. "We have engineered both vertical and planar pinning centers, because vortices created by magnetic fields can be in many different orientations."
Eom sees possibilities for researchers to expand upon his team's success in engineering human-made superconducting structures. "There's a need to engineer superlattices for understanding fundamental superconductivity, for potential use in high-field and electronic devices, and to achieve extraordinary properties in the system," says Eom. "And, there is indication that interfaces can be a new area of discovery in high-temperature superconductors. This material offers those possibilities."
Funding from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Basic Energy Sciences, National Science Foundation, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research supported the researchers' work. Eom's collaborators include Eric Hellstrom's and David Larbalestier's group at Florida State University; and Xiaoqing Pan's group at the University of Michigan.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
S. Lee, C. Tarantini, P. Gao, J. Jiang, J. D. Weiss, F. Kametani, C. M. Folkman, Y. Zhang, X. Q. Pan, E. E. Hellstrom, D. C. Larbalestier, C. B. Eom. Artificially engineered superlattices of pnictide superconductors. Nature Materials, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nmat3575
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
TEMPE, Ariz. (AP) ? Los Angeles Angels slugger Mike Trout figures if he keeps producing like he did during his historic rookie season, he'll be in line for a handsome raise soon enough.
The Angels renewed the contract of the AL Rookie of the Year for $510,000 on Saturday, just $20,000 above the major league minimum, prompting an angry response from Trout's agent.
While Craig Landis said the renewal "falls well short of a 'fair' contract," Trout took the high road before a morning workout at the Angels' spring training complex on Sunday, repeatedly insisting that "I'm just happy to be in the lineup."
"I mean, my time will come," Trout said before a team meeting. "I just have to keep putting out numbers and concentrating on one thing, and that's getting to the postseason."
Trout had a base salary of $482,500 last year, when he hit .326 with 30 homers and 83 RBIs, and led the majors with 129 runs and 49 steals. Trout was the run-away choice as the AL's top rookie, earning a $10,000 bonus, and finished second to Detroit's Miguel Cabrera in MVP voting.
Trout has 1 year, 70 days of major league service, which the Angels historically have place more weight upon than performance in renewing contracts. Teams are allowed to renew the contracts of unsigned players on their 40-man rosters from March 2-11.
There were 22 players whose contracts were finalized by the Angels on Saturday. The highest salary of those players went to first baseman and outfielder Mark Trumbo, who will make $540,000.
Trout likely will be eligible for arbitration after the 2014 season.
"During the process, on behalf of Mike, I asked only that the Angels compensate Mike fairly for his historic 2012 season, given his service time," Landis said in a statement. "This contract falls well short of a 'fair' contract and I have voiced this to the Angels throughout the process. Nonetheless, the renewal of Mike's contract will put an end (to) this discussion."
Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, will make $750,000 this season under terms of the five-year deal he signed through 2015.
Harper hit .270 with 22 homers, 59 RBIs and 18 stolen bases in 139 games last season.
Landis also made it seem that Trout was unhappy with a move to left field this season, which was designed to allow speedy Peter Bourjos to become the Angels' primary center fielder.
"As when he learned he would not be the team's primary center fielder for the upcoming season," Landis' statement said, "Mike will put the disappointment (of his salary) behind him and focus on helping the Angels reach their goal of winning the 2013 World Series."
Trout acknowledged Sunday that he prefers center field, the position he's played since the Angels selected him in the first round of the 2009 amateur draft. But he also said that he believes playing in left field will help him to become a more complete outfielder.
"I'm a center fielder, obviously," Trout said. "But you know, when you're an outfielder, you should be able to play all three. I think it's going to help me get reads off the bat. It's going to be a fun adjustment for me."
During batting practice this spring training, Trout has made a habit of spending two days in left field and two days in center, often rotating on a daily basis. He said the idea was to remain sharp in center field while adjusting to left, where he mostly played late in games last season.
"My main position is center field, obviously. It's definitely a different position than left field. But I just have to make an adjustment and go with the move," he said. "I feel fine out there. Just getting into games, getting some experience out there will definitely help me."
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said Trout still will play center field, and that his versatility ? his ability to play left ? is one of the reasons he is so valuable.
"Mike is going to be a center fielder, no doubt. We understand that's what's his position," Scioscia said. "But right now his versatility is something that's going to make us a better team, and he will play some center field this year. He's going to play left field, too."
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Public release date: 5-Mar-2013
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