INFORMATION:
Sperm-specific gene expression in organisms including mice, macaques and men
2021-01-14
(Press-News.org) A large class of mammalian genes is not completely shared throughout sperm development and differentiation, according to a new study of sperm in organisms including mice, macaques and men. The findings provide an explanation to why testis gene expression patterns often appear as an outlier relative to all other tissues. In mammals, spermatogenesis includes a long stage of haploid gene expression, which could lead to variation between individual sperm cells, resulting in sperm-level natural selection and trait inheritance. However, during differentiation, maturing haploid spermatids remain connected to neighboring cells by cytoplasmic bridges and can share gene products with one another and effectively erase phenotypic differences linked to the haploid genome. There are a few known exceptions, but, while previous research has shown that not all gene products are shared between cells, the total range of allele-specific biases in mammalian spermatids remains unknown. Kuanal Bhutani and colleagues performed single-cell RNA sequencing on sperm from mice, cattle and humans, and found that a large class of mammalian genes is not completely shared across the cytoplasmic bridges connecting spermatids. Some of these genes, which the authors dub "genoinformative markers," can act as selfish genetic elements and spread alleles unevenly through a population, revealing a mechanism for sperm-level natural selection.
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Foraging humans, mammals and birds who live in the same place behave similarly
2021-01-14
Foraging humans find food, reproduce, share parenting, and even organise their social groups in similar ways as surrounding mammal and bird species, depending on where they live in the world, new research has found.
The study, published today in Science, shows environmental factors exert a key influence on how foraging human populations and non-human species behave, despite their very different backgrounds.
The team of international researchers analysed data from more than 300 locations around the world, observing the behaviours of foraging human populations ...
Hard to crack research reveals how crop roots penetrate hard soils
2021-01-14
Scientists have discovered a signal that causes roots to stop growing in hard soils which can be 'switched off' to allow them to punch through compacted soil - a discovery that could help plants to grow in even the most damaged soils.
An international research team, led by scientists from the University of Nottingham's Future Food Beacon and Shanghai Jiao Tong University has discovered how the plant signal 'ethylene' causes roots to stop growing in hard soils, but after this signal is disabled, roots are able to push through compacted soil. The research has been published in Science.
Hard (compacted) soils represent a major challenge facing modern agriculture that can reduce crop yields over 50% by reducing root growth, causing significant losses annually. Europe has over 33-million-hectares ...
Model analyzes how viruses escape the immune system
2021-01-14
CAMBRIDGE, MA -- One reason it's so difficult to produce effective vaccines against some viruses, including influenza and HIV, is that these viruses mutate very rapidly. This allows them to evade the antibodies generated by a particular vaccine, through a process known as "viral escape."
MIT researchers have now devised a new way to computationally model viral escape, based on models that were originally developed to analyze language. The model can predict which sections of viral surface proteins are more likely to mutate in a way that enables viral escape, and it can also identify sections that are less likely to mutate, making them good targets ...
New state of matter in one-dimensional quantum gas
2021-01-14
As the story goes, the Greek mathematician and tinkerer Archimedes came across an invention while traveling through ancient Egypt that would later bear his name. It was a machine consisting of a screw housed inside a hollow tube that trapped and drew water upon rotation. Now, researchers led by Stanford University physicist Benjamin Lev have developed a quantum version of Archimedes' screw that, instead of water, hauls fragile collections of gas atoms to higher and higher energy states without collapsing. Their discovery is detailed in a paper published Jan. 14 in Science.
"My expectation for ...
Measuring the belowground world
2021-01-14
If you asked people which group of animals is the most abundant on earth, hardly anyone would know the right answer. Ants? Fish? No, and not humans either. The answer is nematodes, also known as roundworms. Four out of five animals on earth belong to this group, and the reason hardly anyone is aware of the fact is that they live underground, invisible to us. Together with thousands of other soil organisms, they quietly, discreetly and constantly perform enormously important services for the world above them.
The soil is one of the most species-rich habitats in existence. Living under one square meter ...
Quantum computers to study the functioning of the molecules of life
2021-01-14
The human body is like a construction site where hundreds of thousands of different molecular nanomachines, called proteins, are simultaneously at work. Each one of these biomolecules, which are chains of amino acids essential to living organisms, perform a different biological function, often in synergy with other proteins. During their formation (the folding process) or in the performance of their biological functions, proteins change their shape in a very specific way. In many cases it is possible to conduct experiments that provide images of proteins at near atomic resolution, but only when they are in the stable and biologically ...
The role of T cells in fighting cancer
2021-01-14
New research from CU Cancer Center member Jing Hong Wang, MD, PhD, and recent University of Colorado Immunology program graduate Rachel Woolaver, PhD, may help researchers develop more effective personalized immunotherapy for cancer patients.
Working within Wang's specialty of cancer immunology and head and neck squamous cell carcinomas (HNSCCs), the researchers worked to establish a mouse model that would help them understand why some hosts' immune systems reject tumors easily, while others have a harder time doing so. Their research was published last week in the Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer.
"It's particularly interesting now because the field of cancer treatment has really been going in the direction of immunotherapy, ...
Exposure to violence takes a toll on the socioemotional well-being of Californians
2021-01-14
Researchers at the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program (VPRP) assessed the prevalence of exposure to violence, such as robbery or assault, and its impacts on the mental health and social functioning of California adults. Their study, published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence, shows the far-reaching psychological effects an incident of gun violence can have on victims and those close to them.
The study's findings are based on data from 2,558 adults who responded to the 2018 California Safety and Wellbeing Survey (CSaWS). CSaWS is an ongoing survey research project on firearm ownership and the consequences of exposure to violence in California. Responses were weighted to be statistically representative of the state's adult population.
These ...
Berkeley Lab science snapshots
2021-01-14
Primer on Carbon Dioxide Removal Provides Vital Resource at Critical Time
--By Julie Chao
Scientists say that any serious plan to address climate change should include carbon dioxide removal (CDR) technologies and policies, which makes the newly launched CDR Primer an especially vital resource, says Berkeley Lab scientist Margaret Torn, one of about three dozen scientists who contributed to this document.
"Atmospheric CO2 concentrations are already 50% over historic natural levels - 270 ppm (parts per million) in pre-industrial times vs 414 ppm today," said Torn. "To slow climate change and avoid its worst impacts, climate scientists tell ...
Population density and virus strains will affect how regions can resume normal life
2021-01-14
MADISON, Wis. -- As a new, apparently more transmissible version of the virus that causes COVID-19 has appeared in several countries, new research finds that the transmissibility of viral strains and the population density of a region will play big roles in how vaccination campaigns can help towns and cities return to more normal activities.
The findings suggest that directing vaccines toward densely populated counties would help to interrupt transmission of the disease. Current vaccination distribution plans don't take density into account.
Tony Ives at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Claudio Bozzuto of the independent data research company Wildlife ...