Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => Physiology & Medicine => Topic started by: EvaH on 22/11/2018 14:26:38
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Heather wants to know:
What is the latest finding on Alzheimer's?
Can you help?
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Yesterday, the Nature podcast described some interesting work that started as research into Alzheimer's (specifically, studying the genetics of the APP gene), but turned into a mechanism used to generate DNA variations between different cells in the brain.
In Alzheimer's Amyloid Beta forms plaques in the brain, which build up and are associated with neuron death. APP is a gene which generates a protein which ends up in amyloid beta, so it is an interesting target for Alzheimer's research.
The researchers looked for RNA transcribed from the APP gene, and rather than 1 or 2 variants (which you would expect for 1 variant from mother, and one from father), they found thousands of variants per person. People without familial Alzheimers also showed this genetic variation, but merely hundreds of variants.
They eventually discovered that this gene is expressed, modified and then written back into DNA as a modified gene using reverse transcriptase, producing many variants of just 1 or 2 inherited genes.
Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07334-9
PS: I wonder if this discovery relates to the mechanism by which nerve cells preferentially identify and connect to other cells, rather than forming introverted connections to themselves? This would create a unique cellular identity in the brain, much like immune cells have a unique cellular identity for creating antibodies..
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Yesterday, the Nature podcast described some interesting work that started as research into Alzheimer's (specifically, studying the genetics of the APP gene), but turned into a mechanism used to generate DNA variations between different cells in the brain.
In Alzheimer's Amyloid Beta forms plaques in the brain, which build up and are associated with neuron death. APP is a gene which generates a protein which ends up in amyloid beta, so it is an interesting target for Alzheimer's research.
The researchers looked for RNA transcribed from the APP gene, and rather than 1 or 2 variants (which you would expect for 1 variant from mother, and one from father), they found thousands of variants per person. People without familial Alzheimers also showed this genetic variation, but merely hundreds of variants.
They eventually discovered that this gene is expressed, modified and then written back into DNA as a modified gene using reverse transcriptase, producing many variants of just 1 or 2 inherited genes.
Article: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07334-9
PS: I wonder if this discovery relates to the mechanism by which nerve cells preferentially identify and connect to other cells, rather than forming introverted connections to themselves? This would create a unique cellular identity in the brain, much like immune cells have a unique cellular identity for creating antibodies..
That's not a free/open access and peer-reviewed study at all. It's only a blog article from Nature with references to other studies. The future of science is open science, so I usually ignore articles like this and try to focus on open access studies.
tk