Basically, it's evolutionary biology and using past things like mummies etc and skeletons to better model diseases and see if they were affected the same way, it's not something I'm interested in, I look more at bacteria. Still interesting though, :-)
interesting, got me thinking:
could bacteria or viral content be made to build a sensor, say odor, or sunlight
could i detect specific human like a finger print
I thought this was so cool I had to get a screencap. :biggrin:
pellaz Wrote:interesting, got me thinking:
could bacteria or viral content be made to build a sensor, say odor, or sunlight
could i detect specific human like a finger print
I'm not sure I can give your question a decent answer.
I know there is work on paper sensors (bioactive paper) that target bacteria. Also, with bacteriophages that attack a specific bacteria can be used to make sensors.
Traces of ancient viruses which infected our ancestors millions of years ago are more widespread in us than previously thought.
A study shows how extensively viruses from as far back as the dinosaur era still thrive in our genetic material.
It sheds light on the origins of a big proportion of our genetic material, much of which is still not understood.
The scientists investigated the genomes of 38 mammals including humans, mice, rats, elephants and dolphins.
The research was carried out at Oxford University, the Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Centre in New York and the Rega Institute in Belgium.
It is reported in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
One of the viruses was found to have invaded the genome of a common ancestor around 100 million years ago with its remnants discovered in almost every mammal in the study.
Another infected an early primate with the result that it was found in apes, humans and other primates as well.
The work established that many of these viruses lost the ability to transfer from one cell to another.
Instead they evolved to stay within their host cell where they have profilerated very effectively - spending their entire life cycle within the cell.
Forced choice
The researchers found evidence of the viruses multiplying so extensively within mammals' genomes that they have been compared to an outbreak of disease.
The senior author of the study, Dr Robert Belshaw from Oxford University's Zoology Department, said: "This is the story of an epidemic within every animal's genome, a story which has been going on for 100 million years and which continues today.
"We suspect that these viruses are forced to make a choice: either to keep their 'viral' essence and spread between animals and species. Or to commit to one genome and then spread massively within it."
The study shows that the viruses involved have lost a gene called Env, which is responsible for transmission between cells.
Known as endogenous retroviruses, these micro-organisms have gone on to become 30 times more abundant in their host cells.
The study is one of many attempting to understand the full complexity of the human genome.
Astonishingly, only 1.5% of the genetic material in our cells codes for human life. Half of the rest is sometimes described as "junk DNA" with no known function, and the other half consist of genes introduced by viruses and other parasites.
Positive services
According to the lead author, Dr Gkikas Magiorkinis, "much of the dark matter in our genome plays by its own rules, in the same way as an epidemic of an infectious disease but operating over millions of years.
"Learning the rules of this ancient game will help us understand their role in health and disease."
This raises the extraordinary scenario of our DNA serving as an environment in which viruses can evolve - a micro-ecology within the double-helix of our genetic material.
There is evidence that they can provide positive services. For example the protein syncytin - derived from a virus - helps develop the placenta.
Dr Belshaw says that endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are not known to have any obvious or direct health effects.
"But there could be effects we're not picking up on or things we could even take advantage of if we detect ERVs moving around or expressing proteins as a result of cancer or infection."
The study was supported by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society.
Quote:The tartar on Neanderthal teeth has a tale to tell. The chemicals and food fragments it contains reveal that our close relations huddled around fires to cook and consume plants – including some with medicinal properties. The find is the earliest direct evidence of self-medication in prehistory.
Despite their reputed taste for flesh, we now know that at least some Neanderthals enjoyed a more varied diet. The latest evidence comes from an analysis of 50,000-year-old Neanderthal teeth from the El Sidrón site in northern Spain.
Karen Hardy at ICREA, the Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies in Barcelona, working with Stephen Buckley at the University of York, UK, and colleagues, used a scalpel to scrape tartar off the teeth of five Neanderthals. They chemically analysed some of the tartar samples, and examined others using an electron microscope.
Smoke signals
The microscope revealed cracked starch granules, which suggests the Neanderthals roasted plants before eating them. More evidence for the importance of fire was found in the chemicals within the tartar: there were aromatic hydrocarbons and phenols, which are associated with wood smoke.
Unexpectedly, there were few lipids or proteins in the tartar, suggesting the Neanderthals of El Sidrón ate little meat. However, one Neanderthal consumed yarrow, a natural astringent, and camomile, an anti-inflammatory.
"It's very surprising that the plants we were able to securely identify were those with a bitter taste and no nutritional qualities – but known medicinal properties," says Hardy. Neanderthals were apparently able to select plants for medical use, she says.
Non-human primates today are known to self-medicate, so the discovery is not unexpected, but finding strong evidence of the practice in prehistory is a challenge, says Hardy.
Amanda Henry at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, agrees. She says there have been hints since the 1970s that Neanderthals had medicinal know-how, but nothing as strong as the evidence from Neanderthal tartar. "To my knowledge this is the first direct evidence of self-medication," she says.
Veg out
The finding also adds to the evidence of the importance of plants in Neanderthal diets. In 2010, Henry found starch granules and other plant microfossils in Neanderthal tartar from specimens found in Iraq and Belgium, suggesting they ate plants. The nature of preservation indicated the food had been baked or boiled in water rather than roasted (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1016868108).
Erik Trinkaus at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, and Michael Richards at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology recently completed an isotopic analysis of Neanderthal bone collagen. Their data suggested the hominins generally got most of their protein from meat.
However, Trinkaus says the new results do not contradict this finding. "[Our analysis] says nothing about their consumption of plant foods or where they got most of their calories from," he says. "The work of Hardy, Henry and others has documented substantial plant food in the Neanderthal diet, and one would of course expect more in warmer climates."
It is also possible that meat in the Neanderthal diet has simply failed to leave a signal in the tartar, says Katerina Harvati at Tübingen University in Germany.
The new El Sidrón findings help to paint a picture of everyday Neanderthal life, says Hardy. "The identification of wood smoke is very exciting as it allows us to personalise and bring to life an individual event in which a person might be sitting beside a fire, cooking and eating – and administering medicating plants."
That peaceful image clashes starkly with another image typically associated with the Neanderthals of El Sidrón. An earlier analysis of Neanderthal teeth from the site by some members of the El Sidrón team suggests the small population experienced periods of nutritional stress. Cut marks on Neanderthal bones from the site suggest many members of the group were cannibalised after death.
Tracking ancient diseases using ... plaque
Aries
![[Image: 1000yotoothplaque.jpg]](http://i1140.photobucket.com/albums/n561/jacobbblue/stuff/1000yotoothplaque.jpg)
mile:
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