The first ever chimeric monkeys have been created at the Oregon National Primate Research Center by combining more than one embryo. Actually, they combined up to six! Now, they didn't combine more than one species of monkey. In fact, all the embryos were Rhesus monkey embryos, but that doesn't make this news story any less amazing.
The three monkey that were born, twins and a singleton, have up to 6 distinct genomes in them! The monkeys seem to be very healthy and have no birth defects, and considering how risky this controversial experiment was (which has never been done in primates before) this is good news.
Now, you might be wondering why we needed to create chimeric monkeys, and that's because we wanted to know whether or not stem cells that are injected into the body would turn into tissues. The answer? Not exactly. Chimeric monkeys were only created when they merged young embryos together, and not when stem cells were injected into an early-stage embryo.
This is bad news for us humans as well, because this means that we would face problems when trying to grow new tissues in humans from stem cells. Now of course, there are those that are against any type of stem cell research and are glad to know that this can't happen or else we'll have chimeric people walking around (even though we already do. Chimeric people can be formed when two early embryos in a mothers womb merge together. A video below will show you the cute little monkeys, although I suggest turning up your volume because I had trouble hearing what the scientists were saying.
Roku and Hex from OHSU News on Vimeo.
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label biology. Show all posts
January 05, 2012
December 04, 2011
Cloning a Mammoth?
A recent report states that scientist might be able to clone a mammoth after finding well-preserved bone marrow in Siberia. Russian and Japanese scientist are stating that they will launch a joint research project next year with the scope of cloning the gigantic mammal.
This was all possible because with the increase in temperature because of global warming, there have been parts of Russia that have thawed which lead to the discoveries of a few mammoth skeletons.
The cloning will be possible by replacing the nuclei of an elephants egg cell with the ones that were taken from the mammoths marrow. As with almost all cloning, after that is done the embryo will be placed in the womb of an elephant, since the mammoth and elephant are close relatives.
Now, my question is if this would be an ethical thing to do. While it's not cloning humans, cloning in general is a very controversial subject. I'm all for it, but some people still resent the day Molly the sheep was successfully cloned. And even if the scientist will be able to find enough intact DNA, a lot of things can still go wrong in the process, so the chances of reviving a species that has been gone 10,000 years are still very, very slim.
This was all possible because with the increase in temperature because of global warming, there have been parts of Russia that have thawed which lead to the discoveries of a few mammoth skeletons.
The cloning will be possible by replacing the nuclei of an elephants egg cell with the ones that were taken from the mammoths marrow. As with almost all cloning, after that is done the embryo will be placed in the womb of an elephant, since the mammoth and elephant are close relatives.
Now, my question is if this would be an ethical thing to do. While it's not cloning humans, cloning in general is a very controversial subject. I'm all for it, but some people still resent the day Molly the sheep was successfully cloned. And even if the scientist will be able to find enough intact DNA, a lot of things can still go wrong in the process, so the chances of reviving a species that has been gone 10,000 years are still very, very slim.
November 26, 2011
Gene that controls sleep found at last!
Everyone knows someone that can get as little as 4 or 5 hours of sleep and be more energized than you would be with 8. Why is it that they can do that and not us? A group of German scientists might have the answer to our question. Named ABCC9, this gene seems to allow you to sleep for significantly shorter periods of time and be just as energized.
To prove that this gene is what differs from a short energizing sleep and a long tedious one, the scientists conducted an experiment on more than 4,000 people that lived across seven European countries. Part of the experiment was filling out a questionnaire about the sleeping habits the people had. The other part? Seeing if they had the correct version of gene ABCC9.
Lo and behold, the people with two copies of the "less sleep" version of ABCC9 slept for a shorter period of time, while people with two copies of the "more sleep" version of ABCC9 slept for much longer.
To test the results they got form the questionnaire, they modified the gene in fruit flies with the help of scientists from the Leichester University in England. The flies also had different sleep cycles now with their new ABCC9 genes, and Till Roenneberg said - one of the study's authors - said that this is means that the same mechanism might work in a wide variety of species.
To prove that this gene is what differs from a short energizing sleep and a long tedious one, the scientists conducted an experiment on more than 4,000 people that lived across seven European countries. Part of the experiment was filling out a questionnaire about the sleeping habits the people had. The other part? Seeing if they had the correct version of gene ABCC9.
Lo and behold, the people with two copies of the "less sleep" version of ABCC9 slept for a shorter period of time, while people with two copies of the "more sleep" version of ABCC9 slept for much longer.
To test the results they got form the questionnaire, they modified the gene in fruit flies with the help of scientists from the Leichester University in England. The flies also had different sleep cycles now with their new ABCC9 genes, and Till Roenneberg said - one of the study's authors - said that this is means that the same mechanism might work in a wide variety of species.
November 23, 2011
Why do we have wisdom teeth?
Why do we have wisdom teeth has been a question that I've personally asked myself many times and always wanted a good answer to the question. It finally seems like that answer has come, and it might surprise you.
A new study that was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences basically says that our wisdom teeth are there because of our ancestors diets. Hunter-gatherers had a longer, narrower jaw-bone, which in turn allowed for another set of molars, the wisdom teeth for better chewing of the relatively hard foods that they were eating.
On the other side, there were those who got their food from agriculture and the food was often cooked and much softer. This lead to a smaller jaw-bone and no space for that extra set of molars that hunter-gatherers had. This can also explain dental crowding and teeth misalignment. Now that my question has finally been answered, all I need to know is why they call them wisdom teeth.
A new study that was published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences basically says that our wisdom teeth are there because of our ancestors diets. Hunter-gatherers had a longer, narrower jaw-bone, which in turn allowed for another set of molars, the wisdom teeth for better chewing of the relatively hard foods that they were eating.
On the other side, there were those who got their food from agriculture and the food was often cooked and much softer. This lead to a smaller jaw-bone and no space for that extra set of molars that hunter-gatherers had. This can also explain dental crowding and teeth misalignment. Now that my question has finally been answered, all I need to know is why they call them wisdom teeth.