In the Literature

Blogs about published peer-reviewed scientific studies.

A Diabetes Drug, Metformin, Slows Aging in Male Monkeys

Posted on by Johanna Lee

Aging is a natural process that occurs in all living creatures, seemingly inevitable and inescapable. Yet, it is a collective dream of humanity to somehow avoid the deterioration caused by old age, including declining brain function, chronic illnesses, and organ failure. For decades, scientists have been exploring ways to slow down the aging process in the hope of extending lifespans and improving the quality of life. Now, we may be closer than ever to finding an answer. It’s called “metformin”.

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Unlocking the Secrets of ADP-Ribosylation with Arg-C Ultra Protease, a Key Enzyme for Studying Ester-Linked Protein Modifications 

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Post-translational modifications of proteins are critical for proper protein function. Modifications such as phosphorylation/dephosphorylation can act as switches that activate or inactivate proteins in signaling cascades. The addition of specific sugars to membrane proteins on cells are critical for recognition, interaction with the extracellular matrix and other activities. While we know volumes about some types of protein modifications, ADP-ribosylation on aspartate and glutamate residues has been more difficult to study because of the chemical instability of these ester-linked modifications. 

Matić Lab (Eduardo José Longarini and Ivan Matić) recently published a study that explored mono-ADP-ribosylation (ADPr) on aspartate and glutamate residues by the protein PARP1 and its potential reversal by PARG. PARP1 and PARG signaling are central to DNA repair and apoptosis pathways, making them potentially powerful therapeutic targets in cancer or neurodegenerative diseases in which DNA repair processes are often disrupted. 

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Exploring the Respiratory Virus Landscape: Pre-Pandemic Data and Pandemic Preparedness

Posted on by Michele Arduengo
influenza viruses are part of the worldwide respiratory virus landscape

Since the COVID-19 pandemic, public health researchers and research scientists have sought more urgently to understand the worldwide respiratory virus landscape. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to re-evaluate our global public health priorities and activities. Additionally, acute respiratory tract infections are one of the leading causes of illness and death worldwide, particularly in developing countries. To really understand what changed with the pandemic and how we can best respond going forward, we need to understand what the baseline landscape was before the pandemic. Studies using samples that were collected prior to the pandemic are essential to this effort.

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From Fins to Genes: DNA Barcoding Unlocks Marine Diversity Along Mozambique’s Coast

Posted on by Michele Arduengo
DNA Barcding unlocks marine diversity along Mozambique's coast

The Mozambique Channel, which is located between the Madagascar and Mozambique on the African coast, is an important hot spot for biodiversity because its many coastal ecosystems provide a range of habitats that support diverse plant and animal species. Understanding the biodiversity of an ecosystem, particularly biodiversity hot spots, is important for many reasons. For marine systems, accurate classification and reporting of fish species supports fisheries research, natural resource surveys, forensic studies, conservation studies, and enables discovery of new or under-reported species. Studies have been limited along the west coast of Africa and are only now in their early stages.

A 2024 research study by Muhala and colleagues applied DNA barcoding to evaluate the composition of marine and coastal fish diversity from the Mozambican coast. In the study, the Wizard® Genomic DNA Purification Kit was used to extract DNA from both teleost (ray-finned) and elasmobranch (sharks, rays and skates) fish classes, with a total of 143 species sampled from local artisanal fisheries along the Mozambican coast. The samples were primarily composed of muscle or fin tissues, which are ideal for genetic analysis due to their higher DNA yield. These tissue samples were collected from various fish species captured along the coast of Mozambique, stored in ethanol (96%) to preserve DNA integrity, and then processed using the Wizard kit. Total genomic DNA was extracted from the muscle or fin tissues, as per the manufacturer’s protocol. This method ensures the isolation of high-quality genomic DNA, which is crucial for subsequent polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification and sequencing. The COI gene (cytochrome c oxidase subunit I) was targeted for DNA barcoding, enabling species identification and assessment of genetic diversity.

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The Buzz on Biodiversity: Exploring Pollinator Diversity Through Mitochondrial DNA Analysis

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Almost three-quarters of the major crop plants across the globe depend on some kind of pollinator activity, and over one-third of the worldwide crop production is affected by bees, birds, bats, and other pollinators such as beetles, moths and butterflies (1). The economic impact of pollinators is tremendous: Between $235–577 billion dollars of global annual food production relies on the activity of pollinators (2).  Nearly 200,000 species of animals act as pollinators, including some 20,000 species of bees (1). Some of the relationships between pollinators and their target plants are highly specific, like that between fig plants and the wasps that pollinate them. Female fig wasps pollinate the flowers of fig plants while laying their eggs in the flower. The hatched wasp larvae feed on some, but not all, of the seeds produced by fertilization. Most of the 700 fig plants known are each pollinated by only one or a few specific wasp species (3). These complex relationships are one reason pollinator diversity is critical.

Measuring the Success of Conservation Legislation

A bee pollinates flowers in a field. Pollinator diversity is a critical aspect of ecosystems.
A bee pollinates the lavender flowers.

We are now beginning to recognize how critical pollinator diversity is to our own survival, and many governments, from the local level to the national level are enacting policies and legislation to help protect endangered or threatened pollinator species. However, ecosystems and biodiversity are complex subjects that make measuring and attributing meaningful progress on conservation difficult. Not only are there multiple variables in every instance, but determining the baseline starting point before the legislation is difficult. However, there are dramatic examples of success in saving species through legislative and regulatory action. The recovery of the bald eagle and other raptor populations in the United States after banning the use of DDT is one such example (4).

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Understanding Persistent Digestive Disorders With Multiplex PCR

Posted on by Johanna Lee

Digestive disorders are a leading cause of mortality worldwide, with diarrhea being particularly deadly. Despite declining mortality rates, diarrhea still causes an estimated 1.65 million deaths annually, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries, largely due to poor sanitation and lack of clean water. While acute diarrhea has been extensively studied, less is known about the pathogens responsible for long-lasting digestive issues, including diarrhea and abdominal pain that persist for 14 days or more. A recent study in Scientific Reports offers valuable insights into the prevalence of these pathogens and highlights the importance of advanced molecular diagnostics in addressing this issue.

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Ancient Retroviruses and Modern Cancer: Role of Endogenous Retroviruses in Transcriptional Changes in Tumor Cells 

Posted on by Michele Arduengo

Approximately 30 million years ago, a retrovirus integrated into the germline of a common ancestor of baboons, gorillas, chimpanzees and humans. That endogenous retrovirus, now known as gammaretrovirus human endogenous retrovirus 1 (HERV-1), may provide clues about the aberrant regulation of gene transcription that enables tumor cells to grow and survive.  

Understanding the Mechanism Behind Cancer Gene Expression 

Scientists have long described the striking differences in gene expression, signaling activity and metabolism between cancer cells and normal cells, but the underlying mechanisms that cause these differences are not fully understood. In a recent Science Advances article, published by Ivancevic et al., researchers from the University of Colorado, Boulder; the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, and the University of Colorado School of Medicine report their efforts to identify endogenous retrovirus elements that might be part of the answer to the complex question of what biological events are responsible for the changes in gene expression in cancer cells.  

The researchers hypothesized that transposable elements (TEs), specifically those associated with endogenous retroviruses could be involved in cancer-specific gene regulation.  Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are the remnants of ancient retroviral infections that have integrated into the germline of the host. 

The transposable element LTR10, derived from an endogenous retrovirus, can alter gene expression in a number of cancers. Artist's conception of an invasive cancer cell.

Identifying Endogenous Retrovirus Elements That Affect Cancer Gene Expression 

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Measles and Immunosuppression—When Getting Well Means You Can Still Get Sick

Posted on by Kelly Grooms
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In 2000 measles was officially declared eliminated in the United States (1), meaning there had been no disease transmission for over 12 months. Unfortunately it was not gone for good. So far in 2024 there have been 8 outbreaks and 131 cases. Ninety of these case (69%) are associated with an outbreak and seventy (53%) have resulted in hospitalization (as of May 2, 2024; 2).  

Help in Limiting a Dangerous Childhood Disease

Before the development of a vaccine in the 1960s, measles was practically a childhood rite of passage. This common childhood disease is not without teeth however. One out of every 20 children with measles develops pneumonia, 1 out of every 1,000 develops encephalitis (swelling of the brain), and 1 to 3 of every 1,000 dies from respiratory and neurological complications (3). Between the years of 1958 and 1962, the US averaged 503,282 reported cases of measles (4). The first measles vaccine was licensed in the U.S. by John Enders in 1963, and not surprisingly, after the measles vaccine became widely used, the number of cases of measles plummeted. By 1970, there were under 1,000 cases (2).

Decreased Childhood Mortality from Other Infectious Diseases—An Unexpected Benefit

What was surprising was that with the disappearance of this childhood disease, the number of childhood deaths from all infectious diseases dropped dramatically. As vaccination programs were instituted in England and parts of Europe, the same phenomenon was observed. Reduction or elimination of measles-related illness and death alone can’t explain the size of the decrease in childhood mortality. Although measles infection is associated with suppression of the immune system that will make the host vulnerable to other infections, these side effects were assumed to be short lived. In reality, the drop in mortality from infectious diseases following vaccination for measles lasted for years, not months (5).

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Can AI Replace High-Throughput Screens for Drug Discovery?

Posted on by Johanna Lee
This image was created with the assistance of AI

For decades, pharmaceutical companies have relied on high-throughput screening (HTS) as the first step in the drug discovery process. After an initial screening of thousands of compounds, scientists select a smaller list of candidate drugs that is then used for further downstream testing. A major limitation to HTS, however, is the need to synthesize all compounds used in the screen—the compounds need to physically exist to be tested. This significantly limits the number of compounds that can be tested, hindering the discovery of new drugs.

What if we could test compounds even before they are synthesized?

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Silencing the Immunogenicity of AAV Vectors 

Posted on by Jordan Nutting

Recombinant adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors are an appealing delivery strategy for in vivo gene therapy but face a formidable challenge: avoiding detection by an ever-watchful immune system (1,2). Efforts to compensate for the immune response to these virus particles have included immunosuppressive drugs and engineering the AAV vector to be especially potent to minimize its effective dosage. These methods, however, come with their own challenges and do not directly solve for the propensity of AAV vectors to induce immune responses.  

A recent study introduced a new approach to reduce the inherent immunogenicity of AAV vectors (2). Researchers strategically swapped out amino acids in the AAV capsid to remove the specific sequences recognized by T-cells that elicit the most pronounced immune response. As a result, they significantly reduced T-cell mediated immunogenicity and toxicity of the AAV vector without compromising its performance.  

Read on to get more of the study details, which include the use of NanoLuc® luciferase and Nano-Glo® Fluorofurimazine In Vivo Substrate for in vivo bioluminescent imaging of the AAV variants’ distribution and transduction efficiency in mice. 

A teal colored ribbon model of a AAV virus capsid floats against a black background.
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