Bioscience News - GEG Tech top picks

Malaria parasites exploit the function of the epigenetic regulator HP1 to promote survival and transmission between human hosts, a new study shows. Using HP1 the parasite controls expression of surface antigens to escape immune responses in the infected victim. This prolongs survival of the parasite in the human blood stream and secures its transmission via mosquitoes. The study paves important avenues for new intervention strategies to prevent severe disease and malaria transmission.

A new mouse model has allowed researchers to explore, for the first time, the biological roots of aggressive behavior in females, both toward each other and the pups of others. Their findings provide the basis for developing additional mouse strains that will enable a better understanding of the neural and genetic basis of behavior relating to reproduction in females, and the differences between males and females.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13574.html#extended-data

New ground-breaking genetics research explains the high incidence of type 2 diabetes in the Greenlandic population, based on blood samples from 5,000 people or approximately 10% of the population. "Several epidemiological studies have looked at the health implications of the transition from life as sealers and hunters in small isolated communities to a modern lifestyle with appreciable dietary changes. Perhaps the gene variant which has been identified can be interpreted as a sign of natural selection as the traditional Greenlandic diet consisted primarily of protein and fat from sea animals," one researcher said.

In a further test of a novel theory that suggests autism is the consequence of abnormal cell communication, researchers report that an almost century-old drug approved for treating sleeping sickness also restores normal cellular signaling in a mouse model of autism, reversing symptoms of the neurological disorder in animals that were the human biological age equivalent of 30 years old.

By studying the genetic mechanisms that enable regeneration in our distant evolutionary cousins, scientists hope to one day uncover potentially latent healing abilities that may lie hidden in our own genome. Four professors are undertaking the basic scientific research needed to begin to answer these and other questions. Each of them approaches the problem from a different angle, focusing on different aspects of regeneration, and using different vertebrate models.

PLOS Biology is an open-access, peer-reviewed journal that features works of exceptional significance in all areas of biological science, from molecules to ecosystems, including works at the interface with other disciplines.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature13552.html

Plus d'infos dans Sciences et Avenir 809, p. 25.

Researchers have used mRNA sequences, rather than DNA, to more efficiently create a reference database that can be used for proteomic analysis of Xenopus frogs. The researchers used their reference database to identify over 11,000 proteins from an unfertilized Xenopus egg and estimate the abundance of these proteins. The method outperformed comparison proteomic analyses based on a preliminary, unpublished Xenopus genome and other protein reference databases.

Advancing research diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer's disease: the IWG-2 criteria. By - Prof Bruno Dubois MD, Prof Howard H Feldman MD, Claudia Jacova PhD, Prof Harald Hampel MD, José Luis Molinue...

When patients have to undergo a bone marrow transplant, the procedure weakens their immune system. Viruses that are usually kept in check in a healthy immune system may then cause potentially fatal infections. Scientists have now developed a method that could offer patients conservative protection against such infections after a transplant. The method has already been used to treat several patients successfully.